Online Poker Real Money Legal In Florida
- Is Online Real Money Poker Legal In Florida
- Online Poker Real Money Legal In Florida Statutes
- Online Poker For Money Legal In Florida
Florida has a state-run lottery that offers jackpot drawing games as well as instant and scratch-off games. Florida residents can also buy Mega Millions lottery tickets and Powerball tickets. Poker in Florida. While poker has been legal in Florida for many years, it used to be limited by a state law that capped maximum wagers at $2. While we are no legal authority on the subject of legit Internet poker in FL, we can say with confidence that Florida’s gambling and real money poker laws are vague, at best. Technically, there are no laws prohibiting someone from playing online poker for real cash at a poker website. Legal Gambling Age in Florida Players must be 18 years of age or older to play at offline and online poker rooms, horse and dog tracks, and online bingo sites. The minimum age to play at land based casinos, online casinos and online sportsbooks is 21. Online Poker in Florida.
Considering the girth of the United States of America, there aren’t a whole lot of things going on at present in regards to online poker regulation on a state by state basis. Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware have passed laws to legalize and regulate the industry within their borders, a few other states have pending legislation on the matter, but the majority of the US is sitting idle on the topic for now. In contrast, legislators in Florida have been very busy incorporating laws directed at online poker and internet gaming in general, but not for the better.
In April of 2013, the Florida Senate passed a bill to ban internet cafes after a huge scandal that involved the Allied Veterans of the World, an organization responsible for running 49 of the state’s internet cafes. It was discovered that the group had ‘misappropriated’ $300 million through online gambling activities in their cafes; funds that should have been dispersed to veterans’ charities, not syphoned into the bank accounts of the owners of the organization. With that in mind, the bill SB 1030 – designed to ban internet cafes in Florida – made an expedient run through Senate and landed on the governor’s desk, where it was signed into effect just one week later.
Legality of Online Poker Florida
What happened next was a colossal domino effect wherein the end result was the absolute prohibition of online poker, gambling or anything else involving gaming over the internet, and then some. The language of the bill, officially enacted as HB 155, was so ambiguously written that it didn’t just ban internet cafes. It criminalized online sweepstakes, bingo, poker, casino amusements and any other gaming activity that can be conducted electronically via the world wide web. For a brief period, it actually banned the use of all devices capable of accessing such games – including mobile phones and laptop computers, but law makers were quick to reverse that blunder with a few necessary amendments.
Is Online Real Money Poker Legal In Florida
Let’s take a closer look at the verbiage of Florida’s new online poker laws to get a better idea of how the state handles such matters. We’ll also look into any potential for future regulation that may exist in the Sunshine State.
Florida Statues – Prohibition of Electronic Gambling Devices
The following text is taken directly from the ‘corrected copy’ of CS/HB 155. Note that some verbose text was eliminated to improve fluency, without alleviating the meaning.
Section 4. Section 849.16, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
849.16 Machines or devices which come within provisions of law defined.—
(1) As used in this chapter, the term “slot machine or device” means any machine or device or system or network of devices that is adapted for use in such a way that, upon activation, which may be achieved by, but is not limited to, the insertion of any piece of money, coin, account number, code, or other object or information, such device or system is directly or indirectly caused to operate or may be operated and if the user, whether by application of skill or by reason of any element of chance or any other outcome unpredictable by the user, may:
(a) Receive or become entitled to receive any… thing of value, or… which may be exchanged for any… thing of value or which may be given in trade…
This next citation is an excerpt from the original, long-standing Florida Statues that prohibit specific forms of gambling, including the amended online gaming law listed above:
849.08 Gambling.–
Whoever plays or engages in any game at cards, keno, roulette, faro or other game of chance, at any place, by any device whatever, for money or other thing of value, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree…
Note that poker games are only legal if played in a state licensed gaming facility; or in a “dwelling” if they fall under the guidelines of a “Penny-ante game”, wherein the pot for a single hand never exceeds a maximum of $10 (ref. Florida Statutes 849.085).
There is plenty more reading available on the state’s online poker laws, but those provided above should be sufficient in defining the legalities of online poker in Florida. If you’d like to read them in full, please use the links above.
What does it all mean? Is online poker illegal in Florida?
Online Poker Real Money Legal In Florida Statutes
Florida’s definition of gambling clearly aims at criminalizing games of chance in general, but the amendments of HB 155 extend the law’s reach to outlaw games of skill as well. Thus whether the state of Florida defines poker as a game of chance or skill is of no consequence. Gambling if any kind over any electronic device that accesses the internet is strictly prohibited in the Sunshine State.
Is Florida working to regulate online poker?
Unfortunately, the state of Florida is in such an uproar over the enactment of anti-internet gambling laws that regulation and legalization of online poker doesn’t look to be on the Senate’s docket for quite some time. In their favor is the simple fact that poker is such a wide-spread activity in the Sunshine State, at least throughout licensed, land-based card rooms. There are multiple major poker events taking place in Florida each year, including WSOP Circuit events and WPT tournaments.
In the past, legislative attempts have been made to regulate online poker in Florida. In 2010, Rep. Joseph Abruzzo introduced HB 1441, Internet Poker Consumer Protection and Revenue Generation Act of 2010. This piece of legislation would have legalized online poker on an intrastate level, but after landing on the laps of the Business & Financial Affair Policy Committee in March of that year, it was never voiced, much less signed and passed on to the next committee for review.
Florida Online Gambling Bill Proposed Last Year Sputters in Senate Committee
Ah, Florida, the Sunshine State. Long known as a haven for retirees and a playground for the young, affluent jet set, Florida has offered residents and tourists alike the opportunity to enjoy various forms of gambling in addition to its many other entertainment choices, such as its lovely beaches and vibrant nightlife. Gambling lovers in Florida already have horse and greyhound racing venues, jai-alai, eight tribal casinos, and casino boats, as well as a state lottery.
So it’s no wonder that Florida state Rep. Joe Abruzzo proposed a bill in January, 2011, that would allow portals to online poker rooms to be available at horse and dog tracks and jai-alai frontons. The proposal stated that the state of Florida would receive 10 percent of the revenue from the money generated by these poker portals. Abruzzo had said that it doesn’t make sense that while Floridians participate in online poker, the state of Florida wasn’t receiving any of the revenue. “We want to legalize it, regulate it and bring the revenue to Florida,” Abruzzo said. “To me it’s common sense to protect our players.”[1]
But the proposed legislation never made it that far. The proposal’s companion bill, sponsored by Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, went belly up in a 2-2 stalemate in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee in April, 2011. For now, that means the possibility of legal online gambling within Florida is dead until at least 2018.
While supporters of the bill may be disappointed that it didn’t pass, some gambling proponents are pleased because they believe any law legalizing online gambling should be done at the federal level. One such group is the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). “We weren’t pleased with how the bill was drafted,” said PPA executive director John Pappas. “We’ve always stated a strong preference for federal legislation.” The PPA is the largest lobbying organization fighting for the rights of U.S. poker players to be allowed to play poker online from the privacy of their own homes. Although still advocating regulations at the federal level, the PPA just wants Americans to be able to play online poker, and will support legalization on a state-by-state basis in the absence of federal legislation.[2]
In February, 2018, Florida legislators also grappled over a bill that would have allowed three resort casinos to be built in South Florida. But Rep. Erik Fresen, the bill’s sponsor, chose not to let the bill go to a committee vote in the House after realizing the bill did not have the votes to move on. However, much like Rep. Abruzzo’s online gambling proposal, Fresen’s mega-casino bill will likely resurface with a vengeance in the Florida legislature’s 2018 session.[3]
Horses, Greyhounds, Crime Bosses and Seminoles–Florida’s Diverse History of Gambling
Florida has been home to some form of gambling since before the 1900s. It began when Standard Oil partner Henry Flagler built and opened the Hotel Ponce de Leon in 1888 in St. Augustine. Within months, the gambling visionary also opened the Bacchus Club, not far from his hotel and it quickly became a gambling hotspot. Flagler would go on to build several other hotels. Each time he did so, he would also construct “both a house of chance and, nearby, a house of prayer.”[4]
By the 1920s, the Cuban numbers game bolita[5] swept South Florida. Somewhat like bingo, bolita consists of 100 numbered balls, and players would bet on which number would be called. Despite being illegal, bolita had a huge following in the early twentieth century.
A decade later, notorious organized crime bosses Meyer Lansky and Al Capone often spent time in Florida hangouts. Tampa became so overrun with illegal gambling and the accompanying gangland-style murders that many folks had dubbed the city “Little Chicago.” Payoffs to police by crime bosses of speakeasies and casinos were commonplace.
Horse-racing took hold in the Sunshine State in the 1920s with the construction and opening of Hialeah Park[6]. Park founders James Bright and Glenn Curtis built the park as part of a project that included public buildings and a racetrack. Two years later, the first pari-mutuel greyhound racing facility in the United States opened at Hialeah, and the Miami Kennel Club was founded. Then in 1924, the Miami Jockey Club was formed and fully opened a year later at Hialeah Park. After Hialeah suffered severe damage from a hurricane in 1926, the park changed ownership in 1930, then enjoyed a glorious 30-year stretch that included such standout race horses as Seabiscuit, War Admiral, Citation, Nashua, and Bold Ruler. Hialeah Park changed ownership twice in the 1970s, and the park ran strong for three more decades until 2001, when Hialeah Park halted horse racing because of a change in state law that forbade the park from having exclusive racing dates from two competing racing venues.[7]
The state of Florida legalized slot machines in 1935 as a way of raising additional revenue in the wake of the Great Depression, but the public’s outrage was intense. So serious, in fact, that the Crime Commission of Greater Miami was formed with the aim of driving syndicate-controlled gambling out of Florida. But in the 1960s, lawmakers realized that although racing and slots were legal in Florida, it was the unregulated forms of gambling that were really paying off, making as much if not more than races. From there, gambling proponents tried in 1975, 1978, 1986 and 1994, to bring casinos to the Sunshine State, but all to no avail. The Florida legislature legalized bingo in 1971 and put a $100 limit on winnings. Once bingo was legalized, the Seminole Tribe of Florida went from a 1,200-seat bingo hall in the 70s to “two decades of lawsuits that would lay the groundwork for legalized Indian gambling in the United States.”
In 2004, the legalization of slot machines in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties passed by 50.8 percent of the vote, paving the way for gambling in Florida as we know it today. The tribal casinos took this opportunity to successfully fight to have Class III slot machines legalized, and with it they were granted the right to offer other Class III table games in their casinos as well. Today the Seminole Tribe of Florida owns seven of the eight tribal casinos in Florida. The eighth is owned by the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida.
Gambling Future Looking Sunny In Sunshine State
Florida’s colorful history of gambling in many forms makes its recent legislative efforts to legalize online gambling within its borders a no-brainer. However, like a handful of other states considering similar legislation, Florida’s lawmakers won’t make a move to add online gambling regulations during the 2018 legislative session. It is clear that most lawmakers understand the potential revenue the state stands to gain by allowing racing venues and jai-alai frontons to install portals to approved online poker rooms.
Keep in mind that when Rep. Abruzzo proposed online gambling legislation in early 2011, it was several months prior to the Black Friday indictments of online poker sites PokerStars, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker that changed the online poker industry. His proposed bill was also nearly one year prior to the U.S. Department of Justice ruling that found the 1961 Wire Act as being applicable only to sports betting and not Internet poker and lotteries. So a lot has changed since Abruzzo’s initial online gambling proposal, namely, that online poker and gambling legalization by individual states is no longer hampered by federal law.
When legislators meet in Tallahassee for the start of the 2018 session, they are certain to revisit the bill proposing three mega-casino resorts to be constructed in South Florida. The odds are also good that Abruzzo’s 2011 online gambling bill, or some form of it, will also be considered to bring additional revenue to the state. And in light of the events of the past year or so that has found several states looking at online poker and gambling bills, don’t be surprised if Florida scraps the poker portal idea and comes up with an online poker scheme similar to the one now in the works in Nevada.
Citations
[1]Joe Abruzzo proposes Florida State online gambling bill by the Daytona News Journal
[2]PPA comment on rejection of Florida online gambling bill by the Sun Sentinel
[3]Florida lawmakers remove casino bill – New York Times
[4]The history of gambling in Florida by the Tampa Bay Times
[5]Bolita by Wikipedia.org
[6]Hialeah Park Wiki – Wikipedia.org
[7]The history of Hialeah Park – by HialeahParkracing.com