Chris Boline
With nothing changing when it comes to legal Florida sports betting, it has left countless people in the Sunshine State furious with the delays. The Seminole Tribe and Governor Ron DeSantis are waiting to see what happens in the appeals court, with there being hope that the original decision can be overturned. Right now, though, Florida fans are furious they can’t make legal sports bets on the NFL playoffs.
This would be the time of the year where things would be through the roof. If you take a look on social media, countless people in Florida continue to complain about not having the option to place any kind of a legal bet in Florida. In the Wild Card Round of the NFL playoffs last weekend, we saw major bets being made across the country. However, that wasn’t an option for people in Florida who wanted to bet on the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
With the Bucs, the betting intrigue was there because the Monday night game against the Cowboys was potentially Tom Brady’s final game with the team. Who knows, it could have been Brady’s last game ever, as some retirement rumors have come out after Tampa Bay’s season came to a close. Now, people would love to all be betting on whether or not the greatest player of all time hangs up his cleats or not.
As for the Jaguars, they’re all set to take on the Kansas City Chiefs this weekend in the Divisional Round. Trevor Lawrence helped record one of the biggest comebacks in NFL history last week, as Jacksonville wiped away a 27-0 deficit to take down the Los Angeles Chargers. Again, people would be all over things if they could bet on the Chiefs-Jags game, but that’s illegal. For now, that is.
I love Florida……….BUT can we get some sports gambling legal down here ?!?! I mean, come on….it’s Florida…..everything else is legal down here! Lol#SportsBetting #Florida
— Brandon Reef (@BrandonReef) January 18, 2023
Appeals Court is in no rush to make its Florida sports betting decision
What’s a bit unfortunate for sports fans in the area is that the appeals court is in no rush to make its Florida sports betting decision. In case you missed it, the opening remarks were recently made where the court was able to hear both sides of things. The owners of the Magic City Casino continue to stand firm with their claim that the Seminole Tribe’s pact with the state of Florida is not legal.
The U.S. District Judge sided with the casino owners, causing for legal betting in Florida to get shut down. Back in October of 2021, the Hard Rock launched its online betting app for people in Florida to look at. With this, people didn’t waste a second in checking the NFL betting odds and putting money down. However, things were brought to a stop shortly after the launch, which had even more people furious.
People had placed futures Super Bowl betting wagers down, but all of those picks were refunded. From that moment when the U.S. District Judge ordered for Florida betting to no longer continue, countless people have been hard at work trying to get things flipped. No one has had much luck, but the fact that things are now being heard in the appeals court really feels promising for the state and DeSantis.
However, nothing is set in stone here and there’s still a lot of worry that nothing is going to end up getting changed. If the appeals court ends up sticking with the original court’s decision and sticking with the Magic City Casino owners, then we could end up seeing the Florida sports betting case make its way to the Supreme Court. That’s not what anyone wants to see happen, but it could end up going down.
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— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) January 19, 2023
Floridians remain hopeful sports betting will come later this year
With all of that said, Floridians remain hopeful sports betting will come later this year for everyone to enjoy. It could all come down to what happens with the appeals court, but the sooner we have an answer there, the better. If things don’t go down this year, though, then we very well could see something get done by 2024. That wouldn’t be ideal, but it’s feeling like that could be the most likely outcome.
However, there is still a chance that things could get pushed back to 2025, which some experts think will be the final result. That’s because there might be a close here where the pact between Florida and the Seminole Tribe will get fully taken off the table, meaning that Florida would have to go back to square one with a plan. If that happens, then a new bill will have to be drafted and passed.
That won’t be easy, but everyone is praying that things won’t get to that level. Instead, people are hopeful that things will get done later this year through the appeals court. If that happens, then people will be over the moon with joy that they’ll be able to bet on the NFL, NBA and more. While the appeals court isn’t in a rush, a decision needs to come through soon enough.
