Florida, is known for its vibrant sports culture and passionate fan bases, but like all other US states, betting on these sports was illegal and state officials had no power to change that fact, until the federal law was adapted in 2018.
However, while many other states rushed to legalize betting, Floridians would have to wait until 2021 before they had the chance to place a wager in their home state.
This was mainly due to the complex situation with the Native American Seminole Tribe, who held a compact with the state over gambling.
I’ll go into detail on this below, but rest assured, the situation is cleared up now. MLS fans can place bets in the Sunshine State, although they are limited to betting with a single company.
The betting laws are simple. As long as you are 21 and actually in the state of Florida, you can bet on sports with the one company in Florida allowed to offer that service.
Historical Context
Although sports betting had never been allowed in Florida before 2021, the state was well-known for horse racing, dog racing, and casinos.
Tampa Bay Downs is one of the USA’s best known horse race tracks, and there were a lot of dog racing tracks in the state too. People could place bets on these races at the tracks themselves, but not off course.
The state also had 6 big casinos run by the Seminole Tribe thanks to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) of 1988, and other gaming locations run by different companies too, so gambling wasn’t exactly absent from the state.
At the end of 2020, greyhound racing was banned in Florida (and most other states for that matter), but the state was about to try their first attempt at legalising sports betting.
The 2021 Compact with the Seminole Tribe
On April 23rd 2021, state governor, Ron DeSantis, announced a new gaming compact with the Seminole Tribe (a compact is just a written agreement between a government and another sector of the community).
The new compact said many things, but the key takeaways were:
- Exclusive Rights: The Seminole Tribe was granted exclusive rights to operate sports betting in Florida.
- Revenue Sharing: The Tribe agreed to pay the state at least $500 million annually over the first five years in exchange for these rights.
- Hub-and-Spoke Model: The compact allowed the Tribe to partner with pari-mutuel operators, who could operate sports betting on behalf of the Tribe under a “hub-and-spoke” model. This model was intended to allow sports bets to be placed at various locations throughout the state, with the Tribe serving as the central hub.
Essentially then, sports betting would be legal in Florida, but only businesses owned by the Seminole Tribe could offer it.
For online wagers this would be difficult, because technically any bets would have to be made on tribal land. However, the compact was specific that so long as the online bet went back to a server on tribal land, it would satisfy the requirement.
So people could bet online from anywhere in Florida using a website or app, but the server the bet was processed through would need to be on tribal land.
It seemed like a good work around, but not everyone was happy.
Legal Challenges
Not long after the compact was announced, it was challenged in court by West Flagler Associates, another company that owned casinos in the state.
They claimed the compact broke state and federal law. The argument was that the new deal gave a monopoly to the Seminole Tribe, as well as breaking the rules of IGRA because despite the servers being on tribal lands the person making the bet would not be.
Not only that, but in 2018 the Florida Constitution was amended (amendment 3) to say that any expansion of gambling activities in the state would need to be voted on by the public in a referendum.
This amendment was put in place specifically to steady the concerns of many after the Federal government overturned PASPA and gave each state autonomy over their sports betting laws. DeSantis had made the compact with the Native American tribe without any such referendum.
West Flagler Associates won the case, so sports betting was put on hold at the end of 2021. However, the Seminole Tribe appealed and the result was overturned, prompting West Flagler Associates to take the case to the Supreme Court. In June of 2024, they refused to hear the case, stating that the tribe’s compact with the state would stand until it ran out in 2051.
So that is where we are today. Sports betting is legal in Florida, but you have to bet with the Seminole Tribe. Not very good for the punter as odds comparisons are impossible, but at least they can bet if they want to.
As a point of interest, the Seminole’s were the only tribe not to sign a peace treaty when America was essentially committing genocide to take the lands of the Native American people. Judging by the way they handled this case, it seems that old habits die hard.
MLS Teams Based in Florida
Soccer fans in Florida have not one but two Major League Soccer teams to choose between: Inter Miami CF and Orlando City SC.
Orlando City joined MLS in 2013 so they had a seven year head start to build a fan base before Inter Miami came along in 2020. They had played in the USL for a few years before this too, dominating from 2011 until they left that league, so they weren’t starting from nothing.
Despite this, Inter Miami are the Florida club with the most global popularity, as they have the one and only David Beckham in their corner as a stakeholder, and have attracted some seriously high calibre players, too. Orlando managed to attract Brazilian attacking ace, Kaka, for their first few seasons, but this was before MLS had really taken off. Miami signed Lionel Messi in 2023, shining a huge spotlight on the club.
Orlando is based fairly centrally, whereas Miami is on the South East coast. The geography probably has a small part to play in Orlando SC being the most popular soccer club in the state, but their heritage is more important. It just goes to show that club loyalties run deep – even though Inter Miami are worth almost twice as much, that don’t have the same levels of support.
Floridians in the North Western part of the state aren’t really close to either team, and the neighboring states of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi don’t have MLS teams at all. Atlanta United are based out of Georgia, but a very long way from state lines. Still, residents of Florida have two ‘home’ teams to support, and they can bet on them too.
Neither club have won the playoffs as of yet, although Orlando win the US Open Cup in 2022 and Inter Miami won the Leagues Cup in 2023.