The Sunshine state is not really known in gambling. Most know about the beaches, the theme parks, and the shopping centers. But gambling, sports betting, could be a huge market, and all the best bookie pay per head operators know this. Bill Galvano, president of the senate of Florida, aims to bring this to life.
Senator Galvano plans to propose a bill that would legalize sports betting and gaming in Florida. Of course, there will be opposition from other parties, such as the Seminole Indian Tribe. You also have Disney to contend with.
Bookies in the Sunshine State
Of course, this may or may not happen, and this will take time. The sessions will begin in early March, although the senate president has already asked a senate committee to study sports betting. He also asked them to draft possible legislation before February ends. The bill will focus on sports betting, but will also include other matters that are gambling industry related.
Currently, the state has an agreement with the Seminole tribe where the state gets a cut of the revenue from the casinos of the tribe. In turn, the tribe has exclusivity of blackjack in the whole of Florida. However, this agreement will be expiring in May of this year.
The previous elections have shown that any legislation on gambling will be voted upon by the residents of Florida, so any legislation put forth by the senate will still go through voting. In fact, this requires a 60% vote from the citizenry, if they want to introduce any amendments or changes to the gambling landscape in Florida. As for the state, they could stand to earn billions in less than 10 years, so it should be taken seriously by all parties involved. We’ll see in future bookie news, how this unfolds, in the next few months.
