Florida sports betting legalization initiative filed with the support of FanDuel and DraftKings – Ballotpedia News

The Florida 21-13 Initiative, sponsored by Florida Education Champions, was approved to participate in the signature drive on June 23, 2021.

The measure would allow sports betting on sports venues, pari-mutuel facilities and online in Florida. The Florida state legislature is expected to pass legislation to implement the constitutional amendment, including providing for licensing, regulation, consumer protection, and taxation. Under the amendment, all tax revenue from online sports betting would go to the Education Improvement Trust Fund of the Ministry of Education.

Online sports betting could be hosted by (a) Native American tribes and (b) entities that have been around for at least a year and that have hosted sports betting in at least 10 other states under the amendment. These entities could start organizing sports betting no later than eight months after the entry into force of the amendment. Other entities or organizations could organize sports betting no earlier than 20 months after the change comes into effect if allowed by state law.

In 2017, the United States Supreme Court heard arguments in a case, Murphy v. NCAA (originally Christie v. NCAA), regarding the legality of a law implementing New Jersey Public Question 1 (2011). On May 14, 2018, the United States Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the federal government could not compel states to ban sports betting, thereby overturning the federal sports betting ban. The decision allowed states to legalize sports betting if they so choose. As of June 2021, sports betting was legal, or laws to legalize it had been approved, in 30 states and DC

In 2018, Florida voters approved Amendment 3, which granted voters the “exclusive right to decide whether or not to allow casino gambling in the state of Florida.” Amendment 3 made the citizens’ initiative process “the exclusive method of licensing casino games,” meaning that the Florida state legislature is not authorized to license casino games by the government. through a law or by sending a constitutional amendment to the ballot. The amendment does not apply to covenants between the state and Native American tribes under the Federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act which allows gambling on tribal lands.

Florida reached an agreement with the Seminole Tribe in April 2021 that gave the tribe the exclusive ability to conduct sports betting in the state. Under the pact, the tribe would conduct sports betting and would be required to donate a minimum of $ 400 million per year to the state of Florida for the next 30 years, until 2051. Under the pact, the sports betting would be available online and in betting. – mutual facilities to anyone in the state and would be “deemed at all times to be carried out exclusively by the tribe at its facilities” where the sports betting and servers are located.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) of 1988 requires that all gambling activities under gaming agreements between Indian tribes and state governments occur only on Indian lands, defined as “all lands within of an Indian reserve “. Florida’s 2021 pact with the Seminole Tribe contains a severance clause, providing that, “[i]f at any time the tribe is not legally permitted to offer sports betting to customers physically located in the state but not on Indian lands ”, then the rest of the pact would remain in effect, meaning that the bets Athletes would then only be available on tribal lands. .

Florida Education Champions said, “Our amendment will allow more competition and allow Floridians to use their favorite sports betting platform. [It] will bring competitive sports betting to Florida and allow fans to use their favorite online sports betting platforms, such as DraftKings or FanDuel. This means that there is no monopoly or limited options. Florida Education Champions spokeswoman Christina Johnson said the amendment “would generate substantial revenue that could be directed to Florida’s public education system – without raising taxes.”

Seminole Tribe spokesperson Gary Bitner said, “This is a Hail Mary policy from foreign companies trying to interfere with the affairs of the people of Florida. They couldn’t stop Florida’s new gambling deal, which passed by an overwhelming 88% vote of Florida’s elected officials and enjoys 3-1 support from Floridians and guarantees $ 2.5 billion in share. revenues. The warranty is the biggest commitment of any gaming company in the history of the United States.

To qualify for the 2022 ballot, proponents must submit 891,589 valid signatures. The signature verification deadline is February 1, 2022. Because election officials have 30 days to verify signatures, petitions must be submitted at least one month before the verification deadline. The proposed measures are reviewed by the state attorney general and state supreme court after supporters collect 25% of the required signatures across the state in each of half of the state’s congressional districts (222,898 signatures for the 2022 ballot measures). Once these preliminary signatures are collected, the Secretary of State must submit the proposal to the Florida Attorney General and the Financial Impact Estimation Conference (FIEC). The attorney general is required to apply to the Florida Supreme Court for an advisory opinion on the measure’s compliance with the single purpose rule, the relevance of the title and summary, and whether or not the measure “is valid under of the Constitution of the United States. “

Last month, an initiative was certified for the 2022 California poll that would legalize sports betting at Native American gambling casinos and licensed racetracks in California.

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