Florida lawmakers to consider new rules on gaming
Florida lawmakers will consider a extensive gaming compact and 13 bills that would update gaming laws to include regulations on Fantasy Sports and live racing.
TALLAHASSEE
Florida lawmakers are returning to Tallahassee this week to consider not only a sweeping gaming compact reached by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Seminole Tribe of Florida, but a host of updates to the state’s gaming laws that legislators have been asked to do for more than a decade.
Bills to be considered next week — a total of 13, all filed Friday — would create new laws that regulate and set fees for fantasy sports and bingo, establish a Gaming Control Commission, and end a condition that jai-alai frontons and harness and quarter horse tracks run live races to operate slot machines and card rooms.
It will be a whirlwind week full of marathon hearings, frenzied lobbying and attempts by Democrats to have more of a say in establishing how new gaming revenue should be spent in the future.
As of Friday afternoon, many lawmakers were still studying the 13 gaming bills, which are scheduled to be heard by committees on Monday and Tuesday.
The bills could be considered on the House and Senate floors as early as Wednesday.
REGULATING FANTASY SPORTS
The rules for playing Fantasy Sports could soon change in Florida, not in the imaginary concept of the contest but in terms of regulations.
Friends and co-workers who are 21 years and older would still be allowed to put together virtual teams based on real sports players for prizes, but under proposed House and Senate bills the total entry fees collected, maintained and distributed would not be allowed to exceed $1,500 per season or $10,000 per calendar year.
Fantasy sports companies like DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM would all be allowed to operate in Florida if they pay the state an initial license application fee of $1 million and an annual license renewal fee of $250,000. A House measure would further ask those companies to pay $1 per contest participant, an extra fee that has not been asked for by the Senate.
The imaginary sports contests are part of a multibillion-dollar business that has tremendous influence over live sports — and the political process.
DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM have all hired lobbying teams that include lobbying powerhouse Brian Ballard.
Campaign finance records also show the three companies have each contributed $100,000 to several political committees affiliated with Republican lawmakers. The contributions began in late February, when the gaming negotiations were at their peak in Tallahassee.
CREATING A NEW GAMING COMMISSION
Another bill on the table would create the Florida Gaming Control Commission, which would be made up of five members appointed by the governor, each from a different judicial district.
Each commissioner would earn an annual salary of about $136,000, and they would have the authority to regulate gambling in the state, including parimutuel wagering, card rooms and slot machine facilities.
Commissioners, however, would not have any power over the Seminole Tribe of Florida, a sovereign entity that reached a gaming compact agreement with DeSantis that if approved would, among many things, allow the Tribe to be the exclusive operator of sports books in the state for the next 30 years.
The bill says the commission could make suggestions to the Tribe’s own regulatory agency to add consumer protection measures on its mobile sports betting app. That could include proposing guardrails to prevent compulsive gamblers and minors from placing bets on sports.
Under the bill, the commission would be housed in the Department of Legal Affairs under the attorney general, and the Office of Statewide Prosecution would have the authority to investigate and prosecute gambling offenses that are referred by the commission, outside of the Tribe.
Senate President Wilton Simpson has said the commission will be crucial to catch “nefarious activity within gaming” and “clear up any ambiguity in the games that are played” in the state. He said the commission will ensure “bureaucrats” are the ones that make a judgment on what games are illegal or not in coming years.
But some lawmakers have raised a fuss about the concept.
Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, argued it may be better to strengthen the state’s existing regulatory structure instead of “paying exorbitant salaries to gaming commissioners” to act as a watchdog. He also worries the panel will become a place for political appointees.
“Does the gaming commission become the Legislative Retirement Act, where commissioners make $150,000 to rarely work?” Brandes said. “I am not saying members can never be on the commission, but it should be at least four years after leaving office.”
A separate bill would create a public records exemption for any information obtained by the Florida Gaming Control Commission and any recordings or records generated during closeddoor meetings.
NOT YOUR GRANDMA’S BINGO
The Senate is also looking at regulating Bingo, but the proposals have not gained much interest in the House yet.
Sen. Travis Hutson, the Senate bill sponsor, told the Herald/Times that the fate of the Senate’s bingo bills remains unclear. But the idea would be to allow parimutuel facilities to conduct bingo games and instant bingo.
The Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s Division of Parimutuel Wagering would have the rule-making and regulating authority over all things bingo games. The division would also have the authority to suspend a parimutuel’s permit or license for certain violations.
“This would not apply to charity bingo, it would be for for-profit Bingo,” Hutson said, noting that charitable and nonprofit organizations as well as homeowner associations would be allowed to conduct bingo games under current policy.
AN END TO LIVE RACING?
Lawmakers are also considering legislation that would allow casinos and card rooms to operate without running harness or quarter-horse races or jai-alai matches, except at thoroughbred racetracks.
The bill also says that in order to renew a cardroom license, a thoroughbred permit holder must conduct a full schedule of live racing.
The only live racing to continue under the bill would be at Gulfstream Park Racing in Hallandale Beach and Tampa Bay Downs. Mike Rogers, the president of the Stronach Group, which owns Gulfstream Park, warned lawmakers in April that the changes in the bill would hurt their business and lead to the loss of jobs.
He argued that it will lead to more competition for the track’s slot operation, which would lower proceeds for thoroughbred horse races and lead to fewer race days in Florida. But others in the horse industry, like breeders and trainers, support the bill.
“Sometimes the horse community can be overlooked and that would have a big impact,” said Sen Dennis Baxley, an Ocala Republican whose district includes several horse breeders and trainers. “As long as there is some form of exemption from decoupling I think that will help keep this international sport.”