After two years of legal wrangling, sports betting may finally come to Florida

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Gambling in Florida can be, well, a gamble.

Some gambling is legal. Some gambling is only legal in certain places, by specific methods, under detailed regulations. And some gambling will get you fined and/or arrested.

Recently local law enforcement has been cracking down on adult arcades (sometimes called internet cafes) because some of the games violated the strict slot machine rules in Florida or offer cash prices, which are illegal. St. Lucie County deputies descended on the Rio Arcade Tuesday and were expected to seize over 100 machines. In May, special agents from the Florida Gaming Control Commission and local law enforcement cracked down on arcades in Fort Pierce, Delray Beach, St. Petersburg and Tampa, seizing more than $1 million in cash and machines.

Meanwhile, sports betting in Florida is still in limbo. The Seminole Tribe struck a multi-billion-dollar 30-year deal (known as a gaming compact) with the state in 2021 to allow online sports betting on tribal lands that would also allow gamblers anywhere in the state to place bets using an app. The Seminoles briefly launched the app, but shut it down after pari-mutuel owners filed a lawsuit alleging it violated federal law and would cause a “significant and potentially devastating impact” on their operations.

A district court judge agreed and stopped the deal. In June an appeals court reversed that decision and on Monday the full appeals court in Washington declined to rehear the case. The ruling of the previous appeals panel three months ago is therefore considered to be final seven days after the last action of the Appeals Court, which means the Seminole Tribe could begin taking sports bets as early as Monday, Sept. 18, according to GamingToday,.com unless the group behind the lawsuit, West Flagler Associates files another appeal with the Supreme Court or at the state level.

But what is the status of gambling in Florida right now? What’s allowed, and what isn’t? Can you be arrested for your Friday night poker game? It’s complicated, but we’ve got answers.

Is gambling allowed in Florida?

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Some of it is.

Florida defines gambling as playing or engaging in any card game or game of chance, at any place, by any device, for money or another thing of value. Most forms of gambling are prohibited, but there are specific exemptions, such as the Florida Lottery.

What forms of gambling are currently legal in Florida?

Broadly speaking, Florida currently allows:

• Some pari-mutuel gambling, including horse racing and cardrooms licensed by the state
• Casino gambling on lands belonging to the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida
• State-run lotteries and interstate games such as the Powerball and Mega Millions
• Bingo, raffles and drawings of chance if run by a “charitable, nonprofit, or veterans’ organization”
• Small social games

What is pari-mutuel gambling?

Pari-mutuel gambling is a system where all bets are put together in a pool, the “house” takes a cut, and the final payout isn’t determined until the betting is closed and payoff odds are calculated. Pari-mutuel betting is used for jai alai, horse racing, and sporting events when participants finish in a ranked order.

What is jai alai?

Jai alai is a fast-paced game that originated in the Basque region of Spain and thrived in Florida after the first professional fronton (stadium) opened in Miami in the 1920s. The sport is played with two teams of two players, each with elongated, curved, handheld baskets (cestas), who catch and hurl a small, hard ball (pelota) in one continuous motion to whip across the fronton and bounce off three walls and the floor. Imagine four-person handball that’s been weaponized.

Since one of the ways to lose points is to hold the ball, the game never stops moving and jai alai pelotas easily reach speeds over 100 mph, making the game exciting to watch and occasionally dangerous to play. The sport once held the world record for ball speed with one reaching 188 mph.

Jai alai – and betting on jai alai – was extremely popular in Florida up through the ’80s but interest waned when tribal casinos and other forms of gambling became popular. The Florida Legislature, in a bid to prop up the sport, passed HB 1059 to allow poker games (cardrooms) in pari-mutuel facilities such as jai alai frontons and horse and greyhound racing tracks, which helped the locations stay afloat but didn’t help the sport. There is now only one jai alai fronton open in the state, at the Magic City Casino in Miami.

Is horse racing legal in Florida?

Yes. Off-track and inter-track betting on thoroughbred racing, quarter horse racing, or harness racing is allowed, but only if you place your bets onsite.

Is greyhound racing legal in Florida?

No. Greyhound racing ended when a statewide referendum passed in 2018 that banned the sport as of Jan. 1, 2021.

What is a cardroom?

A licensed, pari-mutuel facility where Florida allows games of poker (and, oddly,  dominoes) to be played for money.

The state does not consider this casino gambling, according to the statutes, because “the participants play against each other instead of against the house.”

Cardrooms can be found at tribal casinos and racetracks. Several are in former racetracks where greyhounds were raced before that practice was banned. Others are in former jai alai frontons. Some prestigious poker tournaments are held in Florida alongside regular cash games. Online poker is not permitted.

Are slot machines illegal in Florida?

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Illegal slot machines were removed to be taken into evidence Tuesday, May 9, 2023, from Midway Arcade in Fort Pierce.

Laurie K. Blandford, Wochit

As of July 1 last year, slot machines or anything resembling them became illegal in Florida except for 15 approved casinos mostly under tribal control.

Not only are slot machines illegal elsewhere, you are not permitted to own one or even part of one.

Where are the approved slot machines in Florida?

• Hard Rock Tampa
• Seminole Casino Brighton
• Seminole Casino Immokalee<
• Seminole Casino Coconut Creek
• Seminole Classic Casino Hollywood
• Hard Rock Hollywood
• Miccosukee Casino & Resort, Miami
• Harrahs Pompano Beach
• The Casino at Dania Beach
• The Big Easy Casino, Hallandale Beach
• Gulfstream Park Racing, Hallandale Beach
• Calder Casino, Miami Gardens
• Hialeah Park Casino
• Casino Miami
• Magic City Casino, Miami

Can my friends and I play cards for money in Florida?

Yes, as long as you keep the pot small.

Gambling for big bucks in games of chance at unlicensed locations, such as your kitchen table, are a second-degree misdemeanor. But the state does allow penny-ante games. Penny-ante games are defined as “a game or series of games of poker, pinochle, bridge, rummy, canasta, hearts, dominoes, or mah-jongg in which the winnings of any player in a single round, hand, or game do not exceed $10 in value.”

Also, the person running the game can’t charge for it and the game must be held in a home owned or rented by one of the players, or the common recreational area of a college dormitory or a publicly owned center.

Is my church’s bingo game legal?

It is! With a boatload of restrictions on who can do it, where they can do it, how the game is played and even what the cards have to look like.

Florida permits bingo games where you pay to play and win a prize, but they must be held by “charitable, nonprofit, or veterans’ organizations engaged in charitable, civic, community, benevolent, religious, or scholastic works or other similar endeavors” and those organizations must have been in existence for three years or more. Also, all proceeds after business expenses must be donated to the endeavors listed above.

Raffles are also legal, with many of the same restrictions.

What is the legal age for gambling in Florida?

The minimum gambling age is 21 for casino games and 18 for lottery games, poker, bingo, and pari-mutuel betting such as horse racing and jai alai.

Can I bet on the Super Bowl in Florida?

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AP

Not legally. It is a second-degree misdemeanor to bet on “any trial or contest of skill, speed or power or endurance of human or beast.” It’s even worse to be the person taking the bets, which is a third-degree felony.

There’s some argument over where offshore betting websites fall here, but Florida bans all betting on sports.

Except, for some reason, bowling. Bowling tournaments are exempted from this and are perfectly welcome.

Are internet cafes legal in Florida?

Sort of, if you can still find one. Florida permits sweepstakes, and internet cafes advertise themselves as essentially sweepstakes parlors that offer game “promotions.” This allows them to try to work around the state’s definition of “games of chance,” often comparing their electronic games to something closer to McDonald’s Monopoly game.

But a 2013 law banned them from using slot-machine-like computer games, the 2021 law banned slot machines entirely, and they’re not permitted to offer cash or gift-card prizes, so many have closed down and the ones remaining keep getting shut down by authorities. Many local governments have banned them due to the high rates of illegal activity and crime that often happen in and around them.

Are arcades legal in Florida?

That depends on what games they offer. Arcades that offer video or physical games of skill that allow you to win tokens or tickets to be exchanged for prizes are covered by Florida’s Family Amusement Games Act, so heading out to Chuck E. Cheese or Dave & Buster’s is fine.

But if the game includes a randomized element, such as a random chance as to which prize you can win — even if the outcome relies on skill — it’s considered a game of chance and is illegal under the regulations against slot machines. In 2016 a court ruled against the Palms II internet cafe in Ocala that featured such games, saying that the random element brought them under the law against “any game . . . of chance, at any place, by any device whatever, for money or other thing of value.”

Are casino cruises legal in Florida?

Not in or near Florida, no. But since the 1980s cruise ships operating out of Florida ports have taken people three miles out into international waters to gamble. These cruise ships may not be out overnight, or they run afoul of federal laws against “gambling ships.”

Victory Casino Cruises, which sails out of Port Canaveral, offers slots, blackjack, craps, roulette, baccarat, poker, bingo and sports betting.