Florida targets non-tribal gambling through two-bill enforcement plan
Florida’s legislature is pursuing a two-track enforcement strategy with House Bills 591 and 189, measures that update the state’s gambling code to target internet wagering, gray-market machine parlors, and betting tied to fixed sports outcomes.
HB 189, introduced first, addresses unregulated digital and land-based activity by defining both “Internet gambling” and “Internet sports wagering” broadly to include casino-style online play and bets on human or animal contests. The proposal specifies that daily fantasy sports remain exempt, and wagering operated under the Seminole Tribe compact is unaffected.
Participation in illegal online gambling would become a misdemeanor offense under HB 189, while conducting or promoting unauthorized wagering would trigger felony penalties. The measure also continues the state’s enforcement efforts against illegal machine parlors.
HB 591 overhauls penalties and state authority
House Bill 591, later filed by Rep. Berny Jacque, reworks large areas of the state’s gambling laws. It defines internet gambling as any game in which “money or other thing of value is awarded based on chance, regardless of any application of skill … and simulates casino-style gaming, including, but not limited to, slot machines, video poker and table games.”
The bill places criminal liability on operators, employees, and those who provide property for gambling houses. Repeat violations receive more severe penalties. A new first-degree felony would apply to slot-machine trafficking when someone knowingly sells, transports, or delivers 15 or more machines, with fines up to $500,000.
HB 591 also targets transportation-based facilitation by making it a criminal offense to organize group trips to unlawful gambling venues. Penalties increase when minors, seniors, or 12 or more individuals are transported. The proposal includes bail considerations tied to seized currency.
Advertising for illegal gambling — including online postings, printed materials, and public announcements — would be prohibited under the bill.
Local governments would no longer be able to set gambling rules independently. All authority would be consolidated under the Florida Gaming Control Commission.
Match-fixing liability and fantasy sports rules
Both bills contain language addressing sports results manipulation. HB 591 includes a provision stating, “A person who stakes, bets, or wagers any money or other thing of value upon the result of any professional or amateur game, contest, match, race, or sport with knowledge that the results of such professional or amateur game, contest, match, race, or sport are prearranged or predetermined commits a felony of the third degree.”
HB 189 places similar restrictions on betting tied to manipulated outcomes and outlines conditions for fantasy sports contests, including a requirement that winners cannot be determined solely by final scores, point spreads, or team performance.
Sweepstakes industry opposition
The Social Gaming Leadership Alliance (SGLA) continues to challenge HB 591’s classification of sweepstakes-based products. “We strongly disagree with the categorization that Social Plus games that utilize sweepstakes promotions have anything in common with illegal offshore gambling operations,” said SGLA Executive Director Jeff Duncan.
“HB 591 laudably seeks to stop illegal gambling from taking place in the state of Florida but fails to account for how lawful promotional sweepstakes operate in Florida,” he added.
SGLA cites an economic-impact report estimating more than $1 billion in annual player purchases statewide and a potential revenue opportunity for the state exceeding $70 million per year through regulation. The group notes that participating companies such as VGW, Modo Casino, and Publishers Clearing House owner ARB Gaming follow Florida consumer-protection and financial-transaction requirements.
https://www.yogonet.com/international/news/2025/12/05/116649-florida-targets-nontribal-gambling-through-twobill-enforcement-plan