Local Tribe To Control Sports Betting in Florida Under New Compact

Online sports betting is a fast-growing industry in the United States. Recent legislation in the country has made it legal to regulate sportsbook practices in individual states. Currently, 28 states and the city of Washington DC have already regulated and legitimised the industry in their regions.  

The Sunshine State of Florida has been hoping to jump the bandwagon as the 29th respective region for some time now, however, the Seminole Indian Tribe proved to be a spoke in the wheel which slowed what should have been a fast and easy process.  Thankfully, Governor DeSantis and the tribal leaders came to an official agreement on April 23rd, on the last day of the regular legislative session.  

Lawmakers agreed to conduct a special session to approve the compact and potentially pass the bill in a little over two weeks from now, starting from May 17th. Should the state successfully legalise sportsbook services, it will be the biggest region in the US to do so. 

 What Was the Hold-Up? 

The Seminole Tribe has control over most forms of gambling and gaming in Florida, thanks to an existing compact between the state government and the tribal leaders. 

Governor DeSantis offered the tribe full control of sports gambling with the proviso that the state could open a commercial casino in Miami Beach and receive a decent cut of the profits generated from the industry. This proposal was not met with enthusiasm, as the casino would provide stiff competition for Seminole’s Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, which was a short 30 min drive away.  

The proposed profit-sharing plan would require that the tribe pay hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Fortunately, The Seminole people and the government kept at the negotiations until an agreement was made. The deal is set to bolster mutual coffers, so a resolution was in the best interests of both parties. 

 Setting Up a Monopoly 

The new deal requires that all sports betting goes through Seminole servers, but that the offerings can be made in partnership with current parimutuels in the state, such as poker card rooms, horse racing tracks, and jai-alai arenas. The betting partners will retain 60% of the profits generated from the market while 40% goes to the tribe.  

The state, in turn, is set for a massive new revenue stream that guarantees them around $6 billion in funds over the course of the next decade. 

Negotiations with the tribe have been an ongoing saga for years now. What seems like a final victory for the region will, however, result in a closed digital market. Any new retail/digital vendors that want to capitalise on the market will have to partner up – something that is not common practice across the country or even the world.   

Popular US betting platforms will just have to find a way to come to terms with this less-than-ideal situation. Yaniv Sherman, the SVP Head of US at 888 Holdings remarked of the project: 

“I think the Seminole Tribe controls gaming, and operators like us need to come to terms with them. They’ve sort of been given the pole position, if not a monopoly in Florida.” 

Operators realise that it is going to be a tough introduction to the market, with much rigorous negotiating needed to arrive on the same page as a tribe that has full control of the mobile gambling market and at the same time doesn’t want any competition.