• About Us / Contact
This site contains commercial content
SportsHandle
  • US Sports Betting
    • Arizona Sports Betting
    • Arkansas
    • Colorado
    • Connecticut
    • Delaware
    • Illinois
    • Indiana
    • Iowa
    • Kansas
    • Louisiana
    • Maine
    • Maryland
    • Michigan
    • Mississippi
    • New Jersey
    • New York
    • Ohio Sports Betting
    • Pennsylvania
    • Tennessee
    • Virginia
    • West Virginia
    • Wyoming
  • Pending States
    • California
    • Florida
    • Georgia Sports Betting
    • Massachusetts Sports Betting
    • Missouri
    • North Carolina
  • Canada
    • Ontario
    • British Columbia
    • Alberta
  • Sportsbook Apps
    • FanDuel
    • BetMGM
    • Caesars
    • PointsBet
    • BetRivers
  • Tools
    • Sportsbook Bonuses Explained
    • Guide To ‘Risk-Free’ Bets
    • Common Beginner Mistakes
    • Sports Betting Podcasts
    • Expected Value
    • Sports Scores And Odds Apps
    • Sports Betting Twitter
    • Partnership Tracker
  • News
No Result
View All Result
SportsHandle
  • US Sports Betting
    • Arizona Sports Betting
    • Arkansas
    • Colorado
    • Connecticut
    • Delaware
    • Illinois
    • Indiana
    • Iowa
    • Kansas
    • Louisiana
    • Maine
    • Maryland
    • Michigan
    • Mississippi
    • New Jersey
    • New York
    • Ohio Sports Betting
    • Pennsylvania
    • Tennessee
    • Virginia
    • West Virginia
    • Wyoming
  • Pending States
    • California
    • Florida
    • Georgia Sports Betting
    • Massachusetts Sports Betting
    • Missouri
    • North Carolina
  • Canada
    • Ontario
    • British Columbia
    • Alberta
  • Sportsbook Apps
    • FanDuel
    • BetMGM
    • Caesars
    • PointsBet
    • BetRivers
  • Tools
    • Sportsbook Bonuses Explained
    • Guide To ‘Risk-Free’ Bets
    • Common Beginner Mistakes
    • Sports Betting Podcasts
    • Expected Value
    • Sports Scores And Odds Apps
    • Sports Betting Twitter
    • Partnership Tracker
  • News
No Result
View All Result
SportsHandle
No Result
View All Result

Florida Sports Betting PAC Folds Proposed Referendum Effort

DraftKings, FanDuel spent about $37 million on failed ballot initiative

Jill R. Dorson by Jill R. Dorson
January 28, 2022
in Industry, Legislation
florida-beach-palm-trees

(Shutterstock)

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Florida voters won’t have the chance to decide in November whether or not to legalize sports betting after Florida Education Champions, the political action committee running a signature-gathering effort for DraftKings and FanDuel, pulled the plug ahead of a Feb. 2 deadline for verified signatures. As of Friday morning, the campaign had 475,325 verified signatures, well below the 891,589 needed to get on the ballot.

This past November, FEC said it had collected 600,000 signatures, and in a statement released Friday, suggested it had collected 1 million. But elections supervisors across the state have been unable to keep up with the late flow of signatures from ballot proposals.

The campaign is among the costliest efforts in Florida history to attempt to get an issue onto the ballot, with DraftKings and FanDuel putting up a combined $37 million. That number is still less than the $51.6 million, put up mostly by the Las Vegas Sands Corp., to fund a second proposal that would allow a brick-and-mortar commercial casino to be built in Jacksonville.

“It’s unfortunate that the voters will not have their say on their ability to add sports betting to the state of Florida,” said Brendan Bussmann, a partner at the consulting firm Global Market Advisors, which did not work on the two Florida campaigns. “Not only is this because of challenges experienced by the committee and their effort, but also because of parties that blocked the effort that supposedly were supportive of the voters having a say.”

Signature gathering has been a battle

The signature-gathering process in Florida has been fraught with accusations of harassment and fraud in recent months. In particular, petition gatherers for Las Vegas Sands Corp., which is still hoping to get its gambling expansion proposal onto the ballot, have been accused of fraud, while petition companies hired by the Seminole Tribe have been accused of harassment and other illegal practices.

The Seminoles, who currently have a monopoly on gambling in Florida, last year negotiated a compact to give them more table games and legal digital sports betting. That compact has since been struck down by a federal court, and it’s unclear what path forward the tribe will take to try to secure the right to legal wagering.

“We are extremely encouraged by the level of support we saw from the more than one million Floridians who signed our petition and thank them for their efforts in wanting to bring safe and legal sports betting to Florida, while funding public education,” FEC spokesperson Christina Johnson said in a statement. “While pursuing our mission to add sports betting to the ballot, we ran into some serious challenges, but most of all the COVID surge decimated our operations and ability to collect in-person signatures.”

In the last several weeks, DraftKings offered $100 to every person in Florida with one of its accounts should Florida Education Champions collect enough signatures by Feb. 2. And on behalf of Barstool Sportsbook, Dave Portnoy jumped in to make a plea.

Emergency Press Conference – I Am Here to Save Sports Gambling in Florida pic.twitter.com/2Ne6DQ97D9

— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) January 14, 2022

Florida Voters in Charge, the political committee funded by the Las Vegas Sands Corp., currently has 730,243 verified signatures, according to the state Department of Elections website. Elections supervisors across Florida will continue the count through early next week, but even if Florida Voters in Charge meets the verified signature threshold, it may fail to get on the ballot because of a state requirement to gather a set number of signatures per district in Florida. The campaign was less than halfway to the minimum per district in at least six of 27 districts as of Friday morning.

Campaigns got a late start

Both Florida Voters in Charge and Florida Education Champions began collecting signatures in earnest in late summer. Several political consultants said campaigns in Florida generally need a year to gather the required number of signatures.

“It was a longshot to gather that many signatures in six months, and it looks like they both have failed,” Scott Powers, a reporter at Florida Politics, told Sports Handle earlier this week. “It usually takes nearly a full year  to collect the signatures and some have taken longer. They didn’t really get started in earnest until around Labor Day, I’m told. And part of that is because there were a lot of moving pieces out there with litigation and what not. From the start, people were telling me it would be really hard to do.”

Sign the petition to add sports betting to the Florida ballot. All you have to do is print, sign, & mail in yours by Jan. 19.

If we hit the signature count by Feb. 1, Florida customers will receive $100 DK dollars. Share this post and let’s go!https://t.co/90vSnTF0cb pic.twitter.com/iQJ38TrFwc

— DraftKings (@DraftKings) January 14, 2022

According to a memo from the Florida Secretary of State, any signatures collected after April 20, 2020, are invalid after Feb. 1, 2022, which means that Florida Education Champions — or any other campaign — cannot carry the signatures forward should it choose to make another push to get on the next ballot.

Just when Florida could get legal sports betting is in flux. The Seminoles had their Hard Rock Digital platform live for 34 days in November and December before taking it down nearly a month after a U.S. District Court judge struck down the compact. Appeals in the case are pending, and the case is now in U.S. Appeals Court in the District of Columbia. A decision in that case could be up to a year away.

Johnson said that Florida Education Champions will continue to consider “all options in the months ahead to ensure that Floridians have the opportunity to bring safe and legal sports betting to the state.”  And there are more immediate pathways for both commercial operators and the Seminoles. The tribe could renegotiate its compact to be more inclusive, or the state legislature could revisit legal wagering in the 2022 session.

“Efforts should be made to have an open and competitive market in the state that allow protections and a quality product to be accomplished for the people of Florida,” Bussmann said. “Because of the political nature, this will take a solid effort heading into 2024 and an effectively run signature-gathering process to allow the voters to have their say.”

ShareTweetShare
Jill R. Dorson

Jill R. Dorson

Jill has covered everything from steeplechase to the NFL and then some during a more than 30-year career in sports journalism. The highlight of her career was covering Oakland Raiders during the Charles Woodson/Jon Gruden era, including the infamous “Snow Bowl” and the Raiders’ 2003 trip to Super Bowl XXXVII. Her specialty these days is covering sports betting legislation across the country. You can reach Jill at jill@bettercollective.com

Related Posts

draftkings logo phone
Industry

DraftKings Canada Fined For Advertising And Inducements Violations

June 30, 2022
inside-caesars-sportsbook-chase-field
Industry

Caesars Now Has Two Retail Sportsbooks In Arizona

June 28, 2022
Load More

Top Sportsbooks In Your State

1
Caesars Sportsbook
Review / 4.4
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
2
BetMGM Sportsbook
Review / 4.5
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
3
FanDuel Sportsbook
Review / 4.8
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
1
BetMGM Sportsbook
Review / 4.5
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
2
Caesars Sportsbook
Review / 4.4
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
3
WynnBET Sportsbook
Review / 4
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
1
Caesars Sportsbook
Review / 4.4
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
2
WynnBET Sportsbook
Review / 4
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
3
BetMGM Sportsbook
Review / 4.5
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
1
FanDuel Sportsbook
Review / 4.8
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
2
SugarHouse Sportsbook
Review / 4.2
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
1
BetMGM Sportsbook
Review / 4.5
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
2
FanDuel Sportsbook
Review / 4.8
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
1
Caesars Sportsbook
Review / 4.4
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
2
bet365 Sportsbook
Review / 4.5
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
3
BetMGM Sportsbook
Review / 4.5
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
1
BetRivers Sportsbook
Review / 4.2
BET NOW
T&Cs ApplyOnly 1x Wager Applies
2
FOX Bet Sportsbook
Review / 4.3
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
3
BetMGM Sportsbook
Review / 4.5
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
1
Caesars Sportsbook
Review / 4.4
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
2
WynnBET Sportsbook
Review / 4
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
3
BetMGM Sportsbook
Review / 4.5
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
1
Caesars Sportsbook
Review / 4.4
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
2
BetMGM Sportsbook
Review / 4.5
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
3
FanDuel Sportsbook
Review / 4.8
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
1
Caesars Sportsbook
Review / 4.4
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
2
BetMGM Sportsbook
Review / 4.5
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
3
FanDuel Sportsbook
Review / 4.8
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
1
SI Sportsbook
Review / 4.1
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
2
Caesars Sportsbook
Review / 4.4
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
3
SuperBook Sports
Review / 4.3
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
1
Caesars Sportsbook
Review / 4.4
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
2
BetMGM Sportsbook
Review / 4.5
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
3
BetRivers Sportsbook
Review / 4.2
BET NOW
T&Cs ApplyOnly 1x Wager Applies
1
SI Sportsbook
Review / 4.1
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
2
Caesars Sportsbook
Review / 4.4
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
3
WynnBET Sportsbook
Review / 4
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
1
Caesars Sportsbook
Review / 4.4
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
2
BetMGM Sportsbook
Review / 4.5
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
3
FanDuel Sportsbook
Review / 4.8
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
1
Caesars Sportsbook
Review / 4.4
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
2
WynnBET Sportsbook
Review / 4
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
3
Betfred Sportsbook
Review / 3.8
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
1
BetRivers Sportsbook Ontario
Review / 4.3
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
2
BetMGM Sportsbook Ontario
Review / 4.5
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
3
NorthStar Bets Sportsbook
Review / 4.6
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
1
Bet99 Sportsbook
Review / 4.7
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
2
Sports Interaction Ontario
Review / 4.2
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
3
PowerPlay Sportsbook
Rating / 3.8
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
1
Monkey Knife Fight
Rating / 4.5
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.
2
PrizePicks
Rating / 4.2
BET NOW
T&Cs Apply21+. Eligibility restrictions apply. See website for details.

State Sports Betting Guides

Downtown Detroit at twilight (Shutterstock)

Michigan Sports Betting – Where To Play, Online Sportsbooks, And FAQ

by Brett Smiley
June 30, 2022

VA captial

Virginia Sports Betting – Where To Play, Online Sportsbooks And Bonus Offers

by Brett Smiley
March 21, 2021

nj flag

New Jersey Sports Betting — Where To Play, Online Sportsbooks, And FAQ

by Brett Smiley
March 22, 2022

pa online sportsbooks

Pennsylvania Sports Betting – Where To Play, Online Sportsbooks And Bonuses

by Brett Smiley
March 18, 2022

Most Read Stories

mattress mack betting charade

Will Everyone Please Stop Calling ‘Mattress Mack’ A Sports Bettor?

April 27, 2022
Photo: Jasen Vinlove/USA TODAY

Dave Portnoy Says, ‘F**k That Guy,’ To Which Bettor And Gambling Twitter Seriously Object

May 16, 2022
map-missouri

Missouri Sports Betting Bill Draws Debate, Backlash In Senate

May 5, 2022
golden-gate-bridge-san-francisco

California Tribes Won’t Try For Mobile Proposal On 2022 Ballot

May 10, 2022

Canada Sports Betting Guides

Canada Sports Betting – Best Sportsbook Apps & Bonus Offers

British Columbia Sports Betting – Legal Update, Available Sportsbooks, and FAQ

Ontario Sports Betting – Legal Status And Where To Play

gambling therapy
ncpg
igaming ontario
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL). Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ/WV/PA/MI), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (CO), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-888-532-3500 (VA) or call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN).
19+. Please play responsibly. Terms and conditions apply. 
Individuals must be 19 years of age or older to participate in igaming in Ontario. Gambling can be addictive, please play responsibly. If you, or someone you know, has a gambling problem in Ontario and wants help, please visit ConnexOntario or call their helpline at 1-866-531-2600. Operators on this website operate pursuant to an Operating Agreement with iGaming Ontario.

Search Sports Handle

No Result
View All Result
  • About Us / Contact

No Result
View All Result
  • US Sports Betting
    • Arizona Sports Betting
    • Arkansas
    • Colorado
    • Connecticut
    • Delaware
    • Illinois
    • Indiana
    • Iowa
    • Kansas
    • Louisiana
    • Maine
    • Maryland
    • Michigan
    • Mississippi
    • New Jersey
    • New York
    • Ohio Sports Betting
    • Pennsylvania
    • Tennessee
    • Virginia
    • West Virginia
    • Wyoming
  • Pending States
    • California
    • Florida
    • Georgia Sports Betting
    • Massachusetts Sports Betting
    • Missouri
    • North Carolina
  • Canada
    • Ontario
    • British Columbia
    • Alberta
  • Sportsbook Apps
    • FanDuel
    • BetMGM
    • Caesars
    • PointsBet
    • BetRivers
  • Tools
    • Sportsbook Bonuses Explained
    • Guide To ‘Risk-Free’ Bets
    • Common Beginner Mistakes
    • Sports Betting Podcasts
    • Expected Value
    • Sports Scores And Odds Apps
    • Sports Betting Twitter
    • Partnership Tracker
  • News

Please share your location to continue.

Check our help guide for more info.

share your location