House Speaker Chris Sprowls and Senate President Wilton Simpson have announced that online gambling will not be part of any Florida sports betting bill.
The two politicians also revealed that Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Seminole tribe agreed to remove the proposal and that negotiations with the state can continue without discussing online gambling. For weeks, DeSantis and the Seminole tribe have been trying to negotiate a deal that would bring legal sports betting to the state of Florida.
In the most recent developments, online betting has been removed due to fears that the Seminole Tribe might gain control of the online gambling industry in Florida. Sprowls said that “even the mere possibility of that was unacceptable”.
In a statement, Sprowls said: “In my discussions with our members, I realized that many shared the same concern as me, that some measure could be interpreted to lead to the ‘backdoor’ expansion of online games.”
Last week, the tribe sent a letter to the state government and Republican lawmakers, stating that the deal would not necessarily put the tribe in control of online gambling in Florida.
Upcoming developments in the State of Florida
However, the tribe’s statement was unable to persuade the Senate committee, which opted to remove the bill from the bill earlier this week. Now the special session will continue and is expected to last all week, with the prospect of promoting a final agreement between the tribe and the Florida government.
The settlement made by Seminole Tribe and DeSantis would make the tribe pay at least $ 2.5 billion in the first five years of a 30-year contract, which could result in the state of Florida receiving around $ 20 billion. of dollars in tax revenue.
