• Year Florida Regulated Gambling: Racing (1931), Bingo (1970), Lottery (1986), Poker (1994), Casinos (2004)
• Estimated Tax Revenue from Gambling: $1.7 billion
• Estimated Gambling Revenue: $7 billion
• Florida Gambling Age: 18 for lottery and bingo, 21 for casinos and racing
• Smoking ban: Florida does not permit smoking in card clubs but the ban does not apply to casinos.
• Florida Online gambling: Horseracing is only form of legal online gambling

Florida was a pioneer in several forms of gambling in the South. It was the first to legalize horse and greyhound racing. Its state lottery was the first in the region. Florida casinos were launched third in the southeast, only after Mississippi and Louisiana. It is the only state in the South with card clubs.

1. Mayor Lenny Curry signed legislation into law Friday that requires all Jacksonville internet cafes to remove all 'simulated gambling' devices or close their doors for good.
2. If you have a legal question about a gaming issue, you should speak to a gaming attorney to discuss this complicated area of the law. Whether you are involved in playing or operating casino gaming, racetrack betting, sweepstakes, internet gaming, daily fantasy sports, or competitive E-Sports, gaming law has many unique aspects that need to be analyzed by an attorney with extensive experience.

Jacksonville in Florida (FL) has 2 casinos, the Victory Casino Cruises and the Bestbet Casino. The Victory Casino Cruises Jacksonville is located on a boat in the Mayport Village. It provides 300 slot machines including The Walking Dead and Grease. You will find also gaming tables including Blackjack, Craps, EZ Baccarat and Roulette.

Florida gambling has always been a hotly debated subject. Referendums related to gambling expansion failed time and time again from the Great Depression era until a lottery passed in 1986. A poker referendum only passed in one county in 1994 before receiving more widespread support two years later. These days, Florida is known as one of the healthiest poker markets in the world. There are also over thirty Florida casinos, with plenty of other poker rooms and Indian casinos.

November 2018 Update

During the midterm elections of 2018, Floridians voted on two pieces of legislation affecting gambling.

• Amendment 3: Voters approved the measure that will now make it more difficult for gaming companies to build new casinos in the state. Many online betting sites are worried that the changes will affect previously authorized gambling sites in the region.
• Amendment 13: The people of Florida approved banning greyhound racing in the state. Eleven tracks are currently in operation and will have to phase out their services by the end of 2020.

Paying Gambling Taxes in Florida

OnlineUnitedStatesCasinos has gathered everything you need to know about paying taxes on your gambling winnings straight from a Certified Public Accountant. For more information please visit our exclusive Gambling Taxes article.

Florida Casinos Map & Guide

• BestBet Jacksonville
• Daytona Beach Poker
• Seminole Hard Rock

• Number of B&M Casinos: 32
• Number of Poker Rooms: 29
• Number of Indian Casinos: 7

Best Real Money Online Casinos for Players in Florida

• • Huge Welcome Bonus Package
  • Visa and MasterCard Payment Options Available for US Players
  • Over 150 Real Money Online Slot Games

  Compatible with:

  • windows
  • apple
  • android
  • mobile
• • Safe and Reputable Casino, Mobile Friendly
  • Easy Credit Card Deposits for US Players
  • Impressive Welcome Bonuses up to 260% match

  Compatible with:

  • windows
  • apple
  • android
  • mobile
• • Quick USA Payouts, Credit Cards Accepted
  • Great Selection of Slots & Table Games
  • Legit & Reputable Mobile Friendly Casino

  Compatible with:

  • windows
  • apple
  • android
  • mobile
• • Uses the Microgaming Software
  • Fast Cashouts in Just 1-7 Days
  • Online, Mobile, Instant & Live Play

  Deposit Options include:

  • visa
  • mastercard
  • paypal
  • neteller

  100% up to €1,000
• • Big Jackpots and Massive Deposit Bonuses
  • Over 400 Online Casino Games
  • Play Live Dealer Games

  Deposit Options include:

  • visa
  • mastercard
  • paypal
  • bitcoin

  100% up to €1,600
• • Large Australian Bitcoin-Friendly Casino
  • Mobile, Flash, and Download Play Options
  • Fastest Payouts

  Deposit Options include:

  • visa
  • mastercard
  • paypal
  • neteller
• • Safe and Trustworthy Australian Casino
  • Multiple Daily Deposit Deals
  • 100s of Pokies, Slots, and Table Games

  Compatible with:

  • windows
  • apple
  • android
  • mobile

Types of Online Florida Gambling Allowed

Gambling Sites In Florida

The only form of legal Florida online gambling is off-track betting on horses and greyhounds. Sites like TVG and TwinSpires accept this action.

Daily fantasy sports sites claim exemption under Florida’s skill gaming law. This opinion is debatable. A 1991 opinion from then-Attorney General Robert Butterworthdeclared fantasy sports to be illegal in Florida. A federal grand jury is hearing evidence about whether the activity is legal in the state.

The Florida Legislature banned sweepstakes cafes that use the Internet to award prizes in 2013. This forced subscription poker sites out of the state. Any online gambling site outside of the racing industry is unlicensed and most likely illegal in Florida.

Types of Live Florida Gambling

• Slots: Yes
• Blackjack: Yes
• Poker: Yes
• Craps/Roulette: No
• Horses: Yes
• Lottery: Yes

Florida gambling offers a wide variety of options. Florida is one if just six states left where greyhound tracks operate. Horseracing is also legal under the same statute. Tracks may operate race books on simulcasts. Jai Alai is also legal, although its popularity deteriorated with the legalization of other forms of gambling. Florida racetracks may offer live poker and card games.

There is a Florida Lottery that operates within the state. It sells scratch-off tickets and lotto entries.

The Seminole Tribe offers seven casinos in Florida. Its gaming pact permits a monopoly on blackjack and similar house-banked games. Slots and video poker are also spread at these Seminole Florida casinos. These are operated under the Hard Rock brand in major cities.

Dade and Broward Counties have an unusual setup. These two counties may offer slots, video poker and electronic table games.

Florida Gambling Laws

While it is a gaming-friendly state, Florida gambling laws are strict and have many anti-gambling statutes on the books. These parts of the codified law remain in effect even as Florida gambling policy is liberal. Many of the anti-gambling aspects of the law pertain to masquerading charitable gaming as commercial. For instance, bingo must have a prize pool no higher than $100. It also forbids several forms of Florida online gambling, including daily fantasy sports, according to a previous attorney general opinion. This has not kept sites like FanDuel and DraftKings out of the state.

The main gaming attraction are the Florida casinos owned by the Seminole Tribe. This is where gamblers will find slots, video poker, blackjack, baccarat, and other house-banked card games. The Seminoles hope to expand that to craps and roulette in the next gaming compact. Those games are currently illegal in Florida at any venue except cruise ships that do not open tables until in international waters.

Horse and greyhound racing is the oldest form of Florida gambling. These establishments hit hard times when racing fell out of popularity. Florida permits tracks to operate card clubs. While there were once bet limits in Florida, those are no longer in effect. True no limit games are legal at all card clubs and casinos.

The Seminoles have an exclusivity agreement with the state on house-banked card games, but are currently in dispute. The tribe guaranteed $1 billion to the state. The tax rate is 12% for a net win up to $2 billion. It goes up to 15% for income between $2 billion and $3 billion. This is the highest Seminole table game revenue has ever achieved. Tax rates go up 2.5% for every $500 million, should table game revenue ever reach those limits.

The minimum gambling age in Florida is 18 years for the lottery and bingo, and 21 years for those betting in casinos or the racing tracks.

List of Florida Casinos

With nearly 40 locations, there are plenty of Florida casinos to visit and play at. Below you will find a detailed list of the casinos in Florida, including their locations and websites. You can always use our Florida casinos map to guide you to the nearest location.

History of Florida Gambling

Racing won approval in the state legislature in 1931 by just one vote. The Florida Legislature eventually overrode Governor Doyle Carlton’s veto to legalize horse and greyhound racing in Florida. It was the first form of regulated betting in the state after a decade of attempts.

Jai Alai was added four years later. Slot machines were briefly legal between 1935 and 1937 before being repealed by the state legislature.

Florida legalized bingo and other charity games of chance in 1970. No minimum age was introduced making it so that anybody may play bingo in Florida, although most establishments to not admit minors.

The Seminoles were considered a nonprofit organization and were permitted to offer bingo. The largest prize pool for a bingo organizer is $100. The Seminoles decided that this did not pertain to them. The tribe opened high-stakes bingo. They were challenged by Attorney General Bob Butterworth. The Seminoles prevailed after the case made its way all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. This opened the door for more tribal bingo halls in Florida.

Florida voters approved a lottery in 1986. This same ballot initiative saw casinos fail in a landslide.

Poker was approved in 1994 in Broward County and throughout the state in 1996. It took until 2004, after many failed attempts, to legalize casinos on Seminole land. Florida casinos eventually spread to Dade and Broward Counties. The county casinos can only offer slots, video poker, and electronic table games. The Seminole casinos in Florida may offer house-banked table games in addition to these games.

Poker once had a pot limit of $10. This was raised to a $100 buy-in in 2008. All bet limits were dropped in Florida poker rooms in 2010.

A 1991 attorney general opinion stated that fantasy sports were illegal in Florida. Daily fantasy sports sites ignore this opinion. A federal grand jury is investigating the daily fantasy sports industry in the state.

Florida Gambling FAQ

Gambling and casinos are completely legal in Florida.

The minimum Florida gambling age is 18 years for lottery and bingo, and 21 years for casinos and racing.

Off-track betting on horses and greyhounds is the only form of legal online gambling in Florida.

Not according to a 1991 opinion from the state attorney general, but the daily fantasy sites dispute this finding.

Tracks operate live horse and greyhound racing.

Yes, there are tracks that spread Jai Alai.

Yes. Tracks and Seminole casinos throughout Florida offer live poker.

There are no bet limits in Florida.

July 1, 2010. This opened up an extensive market, and Florida has quickly become a great place to play poker.

Voters approved these casinos in separate referendums. State law permits local jurisdictions to approve slots at racetracks. Voters in all other counties rejected the measures.

The Sunshine state is a casino haven for many gamblers. Their tribal casinos are dotted across the southern part of the state. They also have pari-mutuel casinos, casino cruises, and agreat state lottery.

As of now, Florida does not allow online casinos or sportsbooks. They were slated to have serious discussions about legalization in 2020. But that now seems postponed to 2021.

Still, Florida has some exciting opportunities for land-based casino lovers.

Online Casinos in Florida

Although Florida has a long tradition with some great landbased casinos, it has not legalized online casinos. There have been discussions about legalizing online casinos in the statecapital, but there seems to be little actual motion toward legalization at this point.

Florida does have a state lottery, which can indicate an openness to other forms of betting.

The nearest state where online casinos are legal West Virginia. The online casinos are now operational there!

But, you can still register with a legal online casino while you're in Florida. That means you can get the casino's bonus offers or deposit, and then play whenever you're in stateswhere it's legal. (Do be aware of the casino bonus's expiry date, though.)

Land-Based Casinos in Florida

Florida has a number of different types of land-based casinos.

There are:

• 6 Native American tribal casinos
• casino boats
• 8 pari-mutuel casinos
• state lottery

Types of Casinos in Florida

There are three types of Florida casinos:

• Native American tribal casinos
• casino boats
• gaming machines at pari-mutuels in two south Florida counties

At the moment there is no serious legislation moving toward widening the land-based betting options in Florida.

Tribal Casinos

There are currently six Florida tribal casinos. The Seminole Tribe has five and the sixth is on the Miccosukee Tribe’s reservation.

The Seminoles signed a compact with the state that allows them to offer traditional Class III gaming machines. As part of their compact, five Seminole casinos are also allowed to offer

• blackjack
• baccarat
• mini-baccarat
• three card poker
• let it ride
• pai gow poker

All of the Indian casinos are open 24 hours (except Big Cypress) and all offer bingo except for both Seminole Hard Rock Casinos and the Seminole Casino Coconut Creek.

The minimum gambling age is 18 at all Indian casinos for bingo or poker and 21 for electronic gaming machines.

Pari-mutuel casinos

There are eight pari-mutuel casinos in Florida.

In early 2005 voters in Broward County (home county of Fort Lauderdale) passed a referendum to allow slot machines at four pari-mutuel facilities within that county and all are now inoperation.

In January 2008 voters in Miami-Dade County also passed a referendum permitting slot machines at four pari-mutuel facilities.

Click HERE to see a list of Florida casino slot machine payback statistics.

South Florida’s pari-mutuel facilities (as well as most pari-mutuels throughout the state), also offer poker.

Admission to all casinos is free and they are allowed to be open a maximum of 18 hours per day during the week and 24 hours on the weekends and some holidays.

If you want to order a drink while playing, be aware that Florida gaming regulations do not allow pari-mutuel casinos to provide free alcoholic beverages.

List of Pari-mutuel casinos

1. Big Easy Casino
2. Calder Casino
3. Casino Miami
4. [email protected] Beach
5. Gulfstream Park
6. Hialeah Park Racing & Casino
7. Isle Casino Racing Pompano Park
8. Magic City Casino

Casino Boats

The casino boats in Florida offer gamblers the opportunity to board ships that cruise offshore where casino gambling is legal. From the west coast, the boats travel nine miles out into the Gulfof Mexico. From the East coast, they travel three miles out into the Atlantic Ocean.

The minimum drinking age on all boats is 21. Due to security restrictions, you must present a photo ID at all casino boats or you will not be allowed to board.

List Of Land-based Casinos In Florida

Is Gambling Illegal In Florida

Miccosukee Resort and Gaming Center

• Address: 500 SW 177th Ave, Miami, FL 33194
• Hours: ·8am–2am
• Phone: 305-222-4600
• Website: www.mrg.miccosukee.com

Miccosukee Resort and Gaming Center has nearly 70,000 square feet of casino game space. This includes nearly 2,000 slots.

In addition to casino games, they also have high-stakes bingo.

Seminole Casino Brighton

• Address: 17735 Reservation Rd, Okeechobee, FL 34974, United States
• Hours: Open 24 hours
• Phone: +1 800-360-9875
• Website: www.seminolebrightoncasino.com

Seminole Casino Brighton is a 27,000 sq. ft. casino. They have a moderate 400+ slot and gaming machines. They have a number of table games and high-stake bingo.

Seminole Casino Immokalee

• Address: 506 S 1st St, Immokalee, FL 34142
• Hours: Open 24 hours
• Phone: 239-658-1313
• Website: www.seminoleimmokaleecasino.com

Seminole Casino Immokalee has 75,000 sq. ft. of casino action. They have over 30 table games, including: blackjack, baccarat, poker, and pai gow, and 3-card poker. This isin addition to a large selection of slots and video poker machines.

Seminole Classic Casino

• Address: 4150 FL-7, Hollywood, FL 33021
• Hours: Open 24 hours
• Phone: +1 954-961-3220
• Website: www.seminoleclassiccasino.com

Seminole Classic Casino features a 73,500-sq. ft. casino floor with over 1,000 slot machines. They also have live-action table games and a very large high-stakes bingo room.

Seminole Hard Rock Coconut Creek

• Address: 5550 NW 40th St, Coconut Creek, FL 33073
• Hours: Open 24 hours
• Phone: 954-977-6700
• Website: www.seminolecoconutcreekcasino.com

The recently renovated Seminole Hard Rock Coconut Creek hosts over 2000 Las Vegas-style slots. They also offer around 70 live table games, including blackjack, baccarat, 3-card poker, ultimateTexas hold ’em, pai gow poker, let it ride, Spanish 21, casino war.

Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood

• Address: 1 Seminole Way, Hollywood, FL 33314
• Hours: Open 24 hours
• Phone: +1 866-502-7529
• Website: www.seminolehardrockhollywood.com

The Hard Rock Hollywood has a new 30,000 sq. ft. casino gaming area. It offers nearly 200 table games, 3,100 slot machines, and a new 45-table Poker Room.

Seminole Hard Rock Tampa

• Address: 5223 Orient Rd, Tampa, FL 33610, United States
• Hours: Open 24 hours
• Phone: +1 866-388-4263
• Website: www.seminolehardrocktampa.com

If you like size, Seminole Hard Rock Tampa is up your alley. It's huge 245,000 sq. ft. casino is the sixth-largest in the world. They have a great selection of slots, andtable games include everything from blackjack to baccarat, Pai Gow, Casino War, and Let It Ride. Their poker room features Texas Hold'em, Omaha Hi-Lo, and Seven-Card Stud amongother games.

Florida Land-Based Casinos Map