Peter Lewis
More bad news has come in for people hoping that Florida sports betting will be arriving in the near future. That’s because the news has come in that a Federal court denied a Florida sports betting appeal. This was one of the appeals from when a U.S. District Judge made Florida shut down its legal sports betting, both online and through sportsbooks.
Things hadn’t launched for in-person sports betting just yet, but online sports betting was launched briefly in the fall in the middle of the football season. Despite things being open for less than a month, there was a wide array of bets that went down. Unfortunately for people in Florida, the U.S. judge indeed made the Hard Rock Cafe shut things down. Now, another step back has been presented.
According to Action Network, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia indeed shut down this appeal to try and bring back sports betting to Florida. Per a report, there are multiple other appeals in place to try and help Florida, but it’s up in the air if the District of Columbia will rule in their favor or not. Following this latest update, though, people aren’t too optimistic.
This overall a bummer and it’s not what anyone in the state was hoping to see. Folks have been waiting patiently to see if good news would come in for legal sports betting, but things have simply gone downhill in recent months. Because of this, people are frustrated beyond belief with how things stand. With the summer months almost here, it’s adding a bit of desperation to things overall.
The DC Circuit has dismissed one of the appeals in the Florida sports betting compact case. Not a big deal since it was on a motion for voluntary dismissal. The main appeal remains pending, but still no briefing schedule after 7 months. This appeal won't be decided until 2023. pic.twitter.com/m28I42ILoX
— Daniel Wallach (@WALLACHLEGAL) June 2, 2022
Florida’s other appeals appear to be in limbo
As we mentioned above, Florida’s other appeals appear to be in limbo right now. According to a report, there are other options for Florida to get its sports betting approved through these said appeals, but with the first one getting tossed out the window, it’s unclear if any of these others will have any positive movement moving forward. It’s all pretty much a wait and see.
This isn’t the only negative result in recent months, either, as some of the major sportsbooks out there tried to bond together to get a ballot initiative in place. Had this gone through, then people would have had the ability to vote sports betting into place in November. However, the initiative didn’t get enough signatures in time. With this, it won’t be present on the November ballot.
Now, it will be on the other appeals to try and save Florida in this case. If things don’t go as planned, though, then we might not see betting in the state until 2024. If that is how things end up happening, then it will be a major loss for Florida as a whole. For things to be rocking in the fall to then being halted for more than two years is simply inexcusable. If this happens, people will lose their minds.
Not only is sports betting wanted by people in the state, but governor Ron DeSantis wants things to go down soon as well. He and The Seminole Tribe had their 30-year pact all in place before the multiple federal lawsuits jumped in the way of things. DeSantis was ready for major revenue to come in for the state from Day 1, but with things being on hold, it’s costing the state an insane amount of dough.
Florida sports betting:
– Without a ballot measure, there's no practical path for DraftKings/FanDuel/Anyone else
– Hard Rock app is awaiting court appeal; decicison is months away
– Gov. DeSantis/lawmakers are unlikely (and may be unable) to legalize sportsbooksTLDR: Not good
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) January 28, 2022
No sports betting for football season will be brutal
An important thing to remember is that no sports betting for football season will be brutal for Florida state. Once the season gets here, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Jacksonville Jaguars will be ready to put on a show for all the local fans around. People will be checking out the NFL betting sites consistently and laying bets on them. However, they won’t be able to do so in Florida.
There’s some big expectations for both teams. With Tampa Bay, they have considerable Super Bowl odds, as Tom Brady is back with the team and he’s decided to postpone his retirement. With Brady in the mix running the offense, Tampa Bay has high hopes to make some serious noise in the NFC. With a healthy Chris Godwin and Mike Evans, TB will surely be a team to watch here.
For the Jaguars, Trevor Lawrence is getting ready for his second season with the team as the starting QB. Lawrence, a former No. 1 overall pick, has high expectations leading up to his sophomore season. With the Jaguars adding some big-time free agents too, it only has people jacked up about what this team can accomplish in 2022. How good are they going to be? People can’t wait to find out.
All in all, the loss of being able to bet on Florida – legally – will cost Florida millions of dollars in revenue. This is the last thing people want to see, but it’s sure looking like this will end up being the case barring some sort of a miracle. Again, this is something you hate to see.
