While the amendment specifically states it “does not conflict with federal law regarding state/tribal compacts,” Sowinski said the proposed deal goes well beyond what is allowed. Sowinski, however, said the server arrangement violates the 2018 ballot amendment requiring voters approval for any gambling expansion - an amendment backed by the Seminole Tribe itself, along with the powerful Walt Disney Co. This is not technology that we’re testing out for the first time in the state of Florida. “The same thing would occur here,” Allen told the Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board. Jim Allen, chair of Hard Rock International, said the technology is so precise that it was able to determine whether a bet that was made on a Delaware River bridge took place in New Jersey or Pennsylvania. But anyone can then place a sports bet on their phone or a computer anywhere in the state, turning places like Fort Lee, just over the bridge from New York City, into one of the hottest places for sports betting.Ĭasinos are able to do that thanks to “geo-fencing,” which can prove a bettor is within state boundaries. Just like sports betting servers would be located on tribal land in Florida, in New Jersey, the servers are all located in Atlantic City and attached to casinos.

Ron DeSantis, if it wins approval from the Legislature during a special session beginning May 17, would pave the way for Hard Rock casinos owned by the Seminoles in Florida to offer craps and roulette, including flagship properties in Tampa and Hollywood. The so-called “compact” between the tribe and Gov. And they’re doing whatever they can to try to kill the agreement. Sowinski and his group, who have been battling against gaming expansion in the state for years, argue that the state constitution requires voter approval for any expansion of gambling in the state, virtual or not. “You could be sitting on your toilet anywhere in the state, and so long as the file server is, you’re betting ‘on tribal lands,'” said John Sowinski, who heads the anti-gambling organization No Casinos, of the agreement’s sports betting provisions.

But at the same time, gambling could soon be taking place everywhere in Florida, on anyone’s smartphone. Gambling casinos won’t expand to Central Florida as part of a new $2.5 billion pact between the state and the Seminole Tribe, its leaders insist.

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