Experts place the odds of Florida initiating sports betting soon in response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing sports betting are about 50-50, according to one frequent contributor to sports-betting blog The Lines.
Sports blogger Juan Carlos Blanco writes that sports betting in Florida faces two big obstacles: the Seminole Tribe and Amendment 3. The Seminole Tribe is a powerful force in the state whose compact could require the tribe’s approval of any sports-betting scheme, and Amendment 3 to the state constitution, if passed by a supermajority of 60 percent of voters, would require any future expansion of gambling to be approved by the voters.
“The Seminoles have rights to cease their $19.5 million monthly payments to the state if legislators vote to expand certain forms of commercial gaming,” writes Blanco. “Another wild card is Amendment 3, set to be voted on in November. While passage will require a supermajority of 60 percent of voters, there’s plenty of money behind the initiative. Disney and the Seminoles alone have laid out more than a combined $16 million as of mid-May to back Voters In Charge, the political action committee spearheading the effort.”
The proposed amendment would exempt parimutuel wagering on horse and dog racing or jai-alai from needing voter approval for expansions. It specifies any gaming falling under the definition of Class III gaming as requiring voter approval to expand, although it does not specifically mention sports betting.
Experts feel the most logical progression to legal sports betting in Florida will be through the state legislature. In any event, Blanco puts the chances of that at 50-50, and estimates it will be three to five years before sports betting becomes a reality in Florida.
