The Florida House of Representatives Industries & Professional Activities Subcommittee will on Tuesday hold a hearing for HB 189, a sweeping gambling bill that would make the offering or acceptance of a bribe for the purposes of sports betting a felony. The bill would also codify legal daily fantasy sports (DFS).
The bill, filed by Rep. Dana Trabulsy, a Fort Pierce Republican, would impact multiple aspects of gambling in Florida, including pari-mutuels, illegal slot machines, sports betting, and deportment rules for the Florida Gaming Control Commission.
Key among the provisions for sports betting:
- Anyone who “conspires to give, promise or offer to anyone who participates or expects to participate in any professional or amateur game” … “any bribe, money, goods, present, reward or any valuable thing whatsoever, or any promise … with intent to influence him or her or them to lose or cause to be lost any game” is considered guilty of a third-degree felony.
- Anyone who accepts such a bribe as part of a match-fixing scheme is also subject to charges of a third-degree felony.
- Anyone making a sports bet with knowledge of the bribe is also subject to a third-degree felony.
The language in this bill comes after former Miami Heat point guard Terry Rozier was charged by federal prosecutors with conspiring with gamblers to manipulate proposition bets while a member of the Charlotte Hornets in 2023.
HB189DFS finally legalized in Florida?
DFS has long operated in a legal vacuum in the nation’s third-most populated state. This while California Attorney General Rob Bonta considers it illegal in his state.
Mobile and retail sports betting was legalized in Florida through a 2021 compact that gave the Seminole Tribe a monopoly with its Hard Rock brand. Hard Rock does not offer fantasy sports, and CEO Jim Allen has long contended that the type of DFS offered by DraftKings and FanDuel was acceptable, but the pick ’em style games once offered by companies like PrizePicks and Betr constituted unlicensed sports betting. The Florida Attorney General’s office peppered these operators with cease-and-desist orders regarding these pick ’em games in 2023 and 2024. Those companies have largely switched to peer-to-peer DFS nationally.
Section 13 of HB 189 would create language to define fantasy sports as a “contest in which a participant pays an entry fee and manages a fantasy or simulation sports team composed of athletes from a professional sports organization with the opportunity to win a cash prize.” Using college, high school, or youth players would not be permitted.
According to the proposal, to be considered fantasy sports contests, games must meet all of the following requirements:
- Prizes and awards for winners are set and disclosed up front.
- All winning outcomes must “reflect the relative knowledge and skill of the fantasy sports contest participant.”
- Winning outcomes must be “determined predominantly by accumulated statistical results of the performance of more than one individual.”
- A result cannot be based on the “score, point spread, or performance of a team or combination of teams,” poker games, pari-mutuel results, or various casino games.
An operator or owner of a company failing to comply with these stipulations would subject to a fine of up to $100,000 per violation.
The meeting will he held at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday in Webster Hall.
