The state of Florida is going through some changes after the 2024 US Presidential election saw the re-election of Donald Trump, and while Gov. Ron DeSantis is dead set on enacting the new President’s agenda, Florida casinos might be where he draws the line.
Yesterday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called for a special legislative session where he sought to expedite the deportations of illegal aliens. However, that’s not what happened, as state legislative leaders rejected the special session and instead called one of their own and overrode one of the Governor’s budget vetoes.
The new Florida House speaker, Daniel Perez, told the media, “I believe special sessions should be used sparingly and should not be stunts used to generate headlines.” With all that went on in the House and Senate, lawmakers did not discuss the bill that could effectively block future commercial casino gambling legislation.
The bill in question would ban hiring signature gatherers, making it extremely difficult to meet the signature threshold required by the state to get a bill on the ballot. Florida enforces a supermajority vote of 60%, where new bills must cross that threshold before they can become law.
Perez also stated, “I believe some ballot initiatives need reform; however, I do not believe we, as elected officials, should slip into a special session and, in a couple of days, try to ram through changes to the laws that affect the very voters that sent us here to Tallahassee,”
Florida Casino Laws
The state of Florida has a compact agreement with the Seminole Tribe of Florida, giving the tribe exclusive rights to operate casinos and sportsbooks on federal land. The Seminole tribe owns six of the state’s seven tribal gaming facilities.
President Donald Trump has recently expressed interest in opening a casino in Miami, Florida. However, state officials and Governor DeSantis are not keen on the idea. The Seminole Tribe of Florida’s current deal with the state ends on July 31st, 2051.
Local Florida casinos are, for now, the only state-licensed establishments to offer class III casino games and sports betting in the state. Other card rooms and dog racetracks are in the state, but those operations are slowly disappearing.