Florida Sports Betting: Is It Legal and Which Betting Apps Work?

Is sports betting legal in Florida? Yes, but only through the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Sports betting is legal in Florida under a 2021 gaming compact that gives the Tribe the exclusive right to take sports bets: online through the Hard Rock Bet app for anyone 21 or older who is physically in Florida, and in person at six Seminole casinos. DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM and every other national sportsbook are shut out. Last checked October 13, 2026.

• Age21+
• Apps1
• Casinos6
• Revenue share13.75%
• Compact ends2051

The 2021 compact between Governor Ron DeSantis and the Seminole Tribe added sports betting, craps and roulette to the games the Tribe may offer, for a term that runs to July 31, 2051. The Legislature ratified it in a special session in May 2021, and the US Interior Department let it take effect on August 11, 2021.

The legal trick is in where a bet happens. A wager placed on a phone anywhere in Florida is deemed to be placed on tribal land, where the Tribe's servers receive it. That model is often called hub-and-spoke: the Tribe is the hub, and the state's pari-mutuel facilities can act as spokes by marketing the sportsbook for at least 60 percent of the profit from their own customers. No commercial operator can get a Florida sports betting license, because the state has none to give.

Hard Rock Bet is the only legal sportsbook operating in Florida.

Two pari-mutuel companies, West Flagler Associates and Bonita-Fort Myers Corporation, challenged the compact. A federal judge in Washington ruled in November 2021 that off-reservation online betting broke federal law and vacated the compact,¹ and the app went dark within weeks. In June 2023 the D.C. Circuit reversed,² saying whether betting from outside tribal land is lawful is a question for Florida's courts. The Florida Supreme Court declined the follow-up petition in March 2024 on procedural grounds, without ruling on the merits, and the US Supreme Court refused to take the case in June 2024.³ The challenge paused Florida sports betting for two years. After the court fight, sports betting is legal in Florida through the Tribe, and that is where the courts left it.

1. November 6, 2018Voters adopt Amendment 3: new casino gambling needs a citizens' vote, tribal compacts excepted.
2. April 23, 2021Governor and Seminole Tribe sign a 30-year compact that adds sports betting.
3. May 19, 2021Legislature ratifies the compact (Senate 38-1 on May 18, House 97-17 on May 19).
4. May 25, 2021Governor signs the ratification law and creates the Florida Gaming Control Commission.
5. August 11, 2021Compact takes effect after the US Interior Department lets the 45-day review lapse.
6. November 1, 2021Hard Rock Sportsbook takes its first mobile bets.
7. November 22, 2021A federal district court vacates the compact; betting stops on December 4.
8. June 30, 2023The D.C. Circuit reverses and reinstates the compact.
9. December 5, 2023Hard Rock Bet reopens to everyone in Florida; retail sportsbooks follow on December 7.
10. June 17, 2024The US Supreme Court declines to hear the challenge.
11. February 3, 2025The Gaming Control Commission orders BetUS, Bovada and MyBookie out of Florida.

Sources

1. West Flagler Associates v. Haaland, D.D.C., November 22, 2021
2. West Flagler Associates v. Haaland, D.C. Cir., June 30, 2023
3. US Supreme Court docket 23-862, certiorari denied June 17, 2024

Most questions about Florida betting apps are really about the national brands. Pick an app to see where it stands under Florida law today.

Hard Rock Bet is the only one of the Florida betting apps that can take a sports bet. It covers professional and college sports and works anywhere inside Florida's borders once the app confirms your location. Accounts are opened online, without a casino visit.

• Hard Rock BetOperated by the Seminole Tribe of Florida Play Here

21+. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER. In Florida you can also call 1-833-PLAYWISE.

Retail sportsbooks opened in December 2023. The two Seminole Hard Rock Hotels have betting windows and kiosks; the four other Seminole casinos take bets at kiosks.

Casino	Location	How to bet
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino	Hollywood	Windows and kiosks
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino	Tampa	Windows and kiosks
Seminole Casino Coconut Creek	Coconut Creek	Kiosks
Seminole Classic Casino	Hollywood	Kiosks
Seminole Casino Hotel	Immokalee	Kiosks
Seminole Brighton Bay Hotel & Casino	Okeechobee	Kiosks

• Age. 21 or older, set in the state law that ratified the compact (quoted below).
• Location. You must be physically in Florida. The app checks your phone's location; on a computer it uses a location plug-in.
• Events. Professional and college sports are allowed, including Florida college teams.
• Unlicensed books. Taking sports bets without authorization is a felony under section 849.14 of the Florida Statutes. The Gaming Control Commission ordered three offshore books, BetUS, Bovada and MyBookie, to stop serving Florida in February 2025.

A person must be 21 years of age or older to wager on sports betting.

Read the text

Florida sports betting is not taxed the way other states tax it. The Tribe pays the state a share of its net win instead: 13.75 percent on sports betting, or 10 percent on bets from customers who come through a pari-mutuel partner's brand, with a guaranteed minimum of $2.5 billion across all games in the compact's first five years.

There are two routes. Expanding what the Tribe offers, online casino games for example, needs a compact amendment ratified by the Legislature and approved in Washington. Letting commercial sportsbooks in would need a constitutional amendment by citizens' initiative under Amendment 3, approved by 60 percent of voters. No gambling bill that would do either passed in the 2025 or 2026 sessions.

Florida's official gambling helpline is 1-833-PLAYWISE (1-833-752-9947). Florida has no statewide self-exclusion program; Hard Rock Bet offers deposit limits and self-exclusion inside the app.