Seminoles Vow to Fight DraftKings and FanDuel Florida Sports Betting Ballot Push

The Seminole Tribe of Florida on Monday dismissed a sports betting initiative backed by DraftKings and FanDuel as a “Hail Mary” from “interfering” out-of-state corporations.

The deuce online betting giants are bankrolling a petition ride that aims to legalize sports wagering via a constitutional amendment. The initiative needs 891,589 signatures from registered country voters to be placed on the ballot inwards 2022.

The powerful Seminoles currently enjoy a monopoly on gambling casino gaming inwards Sunshine State at their heptad Hard John Rock casinos and they require that to reach out to sports betting too. The tribe recently signed a “historic” compact with the state’s Republican governor, Bokkos DiSantis, giving them scoop rights to run sports books, as swell as snake eyes and roulette.

In return, the tribe will divvy up a minimum of $500 one thousand thousand per twelvemonth with the state, a amount that increases in dimension with profits. It’s the biggest gambling casino revenue-share trade in US history, and it’s currently awaiting sign sour past the US Department of the Interior.

Legal Conundrums

The Governor’s Office says the business deal doesn’t amount to legalizing sports betting in Florida. The Seminoles testament live providing online betting to FL residents lawfully because betting is occurring through and through their servers, which testament be based on their sovereign territories.

That argument testament follow challenged in court. In 2018, voters passed a constitutional amendment, Amendment 3, that requires elector favorable reception of all proposed casino play enlargement inward the state. Ironically, the amendment was backed past the Seminoles because they believed it would safeguard their monopoly.

Now it testament live used against them by anti-gambling campaigners and the interrogative of “where” a wager takes localise when it is conducted online will be a tonality interrogation for the courts to consider.

The Governor’s Office also argues that sports betting does not constitute “casino gambling,” as described inwards Amendment 3, another single for the courts.

DraftKings and FanDuel hope Florida’s voters testament micturate all this moot by legalizing sports betting at the ballot and wresting it off from Seminole control.

‘Education Champions’

The initiative is beingness spearheaded past a new formed take the field committee, Florida Education Champions (FEC). As its make suggests, it promises to ensure “substantial revenue” from legalized sports betting goes to funding the state’s public education system of rules “without nurture taxes.”

It said Fri it would start collecting signatures “immediately.”

Seminole Gaming spokesman Gary Bitner said inward a statement the folk would combat the FEC initiative all the way.

“They couldn’t stoppage Florida’s unexampled gaming compact, which passed past an overwhelming 88 percent ‘yes’ vote from Florida’s elected legislators and enjoys 3-1 funding from Floridians and guarantees $2.5 1000000000 in revenue sharing,” he said. “The warrantee is the largest loyalty past any gaming keep company in US history.”

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