Introduction to Florida Slot Machine Casino Gambling in 2019

For the few gambling activities that are legal within Florida’s borders, you’ll need to be 18-years-old or 21-years-old (depending on the activity). 18-years-old is the minimum age to enter casinos, lottery, poker rooms, and more. 21-years-old is the minimum age for playing slot games. Exceptions To Florida Anti-Gambling Laws.

Florida slot machine casino gambling consists of eight pari-mutuel racetracks in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties, seven tribal casinos, and day-long casino cruises.

A theoretical minimum payout exists, and monthly return statistics are publicly available for the eight commercial racinos. Neither are available for Florida’s tribal casinos.

1. Florida state laws allow multiple local gambling and betting options to players who are 18 years old and over. The state’s gambling laws also do not prohibit Florida’s 18+ players from enjoying casino gaming at legally licensed and regulated online casinos that are located outside of the United States.
2. Casinos 18 – Legal Online Casinos Allowing 18+ Year Olds And Up As gambling laws have relaxed across the US over the last few decades, the minimum legal gambling age in multiple states and at regulated online casinos has also begun to reflect this trend.

This post continues my weekly State-By-State Slot Machine Casino Gambling Series, an online resource dedicated to guiding slot machine casino gambler to success. Now in its third year, each weekly post reviews slots gambling in a single U.S. state, territory, or federal district.

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Relevant Legal Statutes on Gambling in Florida*

The minimum legal gambling age in Florida depends upon the gambling activity:

• Land-Based Casinos: 21
• Poker Rooms: 18
• Bingo: 18
• Lottery: 18
• Pari-Mutuel Wagering: 18

State gaming regulations have authorized slot machines at pari-mutuel wagering race tracks located in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties. These counties contain the cities of Miami and Fort Lauderdale in southern Florida.

*The purpose of this section is to inform the public of state gambling laws and how the laws might apply to various forms of gaming. It is not legal advice.

Slot Machine Private Ownership in Florida

In Florida, it is legal to own a slot machine privately if it is at least 20 years old.

Gaming Control Board in Florida

The gaming control commission is the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering within Florida’s Department of Business & Professional Regulation (DBPR).

Overall, the DBPR authorizes, regulates or provides oversight for Florida’s gaming industries of:

• Pari-mutuel wagering, including
  • Horse racing
  • Harness horse racing
  • Greyhound racing
  • Jai alai games
• Cardroom games

There are over three dozen pari-mutuel wagering facilities in Florida for which the DBPR is responsible, including the eight sites with slot machines. The DBPR does not regulate bingo, the Florida Lottery, or day-long casino boats.

Historically, Florida has a long history of gambling, starting 100 years before gaming became legal. For example, at his first hotel, the Ponce de Leon in St. Augustine in 1888, Henry Flagler created the exclusive and famous Bacchus Club Casino.

Tribal gaming originally arrived in Florida with the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) of 1988. With it, Florida’s two federally-recognized American Indian tribes opened casinos offering Class II bingo-style gaming.

Eventually, the Seminole Tribe of Florida has successfully negotiated a tribal-state compact allowing them to offer Class III Vegas-style gaming at their seven casinos.

However, the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida did not successfully complete their gaming compact negotiations, limiting them to Class II bingo-style gaming machines at their single casino.

Casinos in Florida

There are eight pari-mutuel racetracks with slot machines, seven American Indian tribal casinos, and two daily casino cruise ships based in Florida.

The largest casino in Florida is Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa with nearly 5,000 gaming machines and 179 table games.

The second-largest casino is Seminole Casino Hotel Immokalee with 1,300 gaming machines and 38 table games.

Commercial Casinos in Florida

Eight of Florida’s 39 pari-mutuel wagering facilities offer slot machines. These racinos are in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties hosting Miami and Fort Lauderdale:

1. The Big Easy Casino in Hallandale Beach.
2. Calder Casino in Miami Gardens.
3. Casino Miami in Miami.
4. The Casino @ Dania Beach in Dania Beach.
5. Gulfstream Park Casino in Hallandale Beach.
6. Hialeah Park Racing & Casino in Hialeah.
7. Isle Casino Pompano in Pompano Beach.
8. Magic City Casino in Miami.

Tribal Casinos in Florida

Florida’s seven tribal casinos are in southern Florida, including:

1. Miccosukee Resort & Gaming in Miami located 24 miles west of downtown Miami.
2. Seminole Casino Brighton located 135 miles south of Orlando.
3. Seminole Casino Coconut Creek located 25 miles north of Fort Lauderdale.
4. Seminole Casino Hotel Immokalee located 35 miles northeast of Naples.
5. Seminole Classic Casino in Hollywood located 1 mile south of Fort Lauderdale.
6. Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood located 1 mile south of Fort Lauderdale.
7. Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa located 80 miles southwest of Orlando.

Other Gambling Establishments

As an alternative to enjoying Florida slot machine casino gambling, consider exploring casino options in a nearby state. Bordering Florida is:

• North: Georgia Slots
• North and West: Alabama Slots
• Southeast: Puerto Rico Slots and U.S. Virgin Islands Slots

Each of the links above will take you to my state-specific blog for that neighboring state to Florida.

Besides a host of multi-day international cruise ships with casinos, there are two day-long casino cruise boats with onboard Vegas-style gaming available in Florida:

• Tropical Breeze Casino in Port Richey located 37 miles northwest of Tampa.
• Victory Casino Cruises in Port Canaveral located 60 miles southeast of Orlando.

Our Florida Slots Facebook Group

Are you interested in sharing and learning with other slots enthusiasts in Florida? If so, join our new Florida slots community on Facebook. All you’ll need is a Facebook profile to join this closed Facebook Group freely.

There, you’ll be able to privately share your slots experiences as well as chat with players about slots gambling in or near Florida. Join us!

Payout Returns in Florida

Pari-mutuel wagering sites with slot machines in Florida have a minimum theoretical payout of 85%. Actual return statistics by month and casino are publicly available. However, you’ll need to perform some calculations to obtain player win percentages.

To calculate Player Win% for each racino, multiply 100% by Credits Out and divide the result by Credits In. Using the latest statistics available at the time of this writing, September 2019, the monthly player win percentages are:

• The Big Easy: 100% times Credits Out of $33.34M divided by Credits In of $36.36M results in a Player Win% of 91.7%.
• Calder Casino: 100% x $102.9M / $113.1M = 91.0%.
• Casino Miami: 100% x $82.17M / $88.86M = 92.5%.
• The Casino @ Dania Beach: 100% x $41.71M / $45.41M = 91.9%.
• Gulfstream Park: 100% x $45.89M / $49.80M = 92.1%.
• Hialeah Park: 100% x $104.8M / $112.0M = 93.6%.
• Isle Casino Pompano: 100% x $90.17M / $99.60M = 90.5%.
• Magic City: 100% x $123.6M / $132.3M = 93.4%.

The average return for all racinos in September 2019 was 92.3%. For this month, the highest performance went to Hialeah Park, with 93.6%, closely followed by Magic City at 93.4%. The lowest return went to Isle Casino with 90.5%.

Florida’s tribal casinos do not share theoretical limits on their slot machine payout percentages, nor do they make actual payout return statistics publicly available.

Summary of Florida Slot Machine Casino Gambling in 2019

Florida slot machine casino gambling consists of eight pari-mutual wagering racinos near Miami and Fort Lauderdale, seven tribal casinos in southern Florida, and day-long cruise boats to international waters in Port Richey and Port Canaveral.

Commercial racinos have a theoretical minimum payout of 85% and publicly available monthly actual return statistics for each casino. Tribal casinos share neither payouts nor returns.

Annual Progress in Florida Slot Machine Casino Gambling

In the last year, Seminole Hard Rock in Tampa increased their slots by 25%, now with nearly 5,000 machines. Otherwise, the Isle Casino Racing Pompano Park became Isle Casino Pompano.

Related Articles from Professor Slots

Other State-By-State Articles from Professor Slots

• Previous: District of Columbia Slot Machine Casino Gambling
• Next: Georgia Slot Machine Casino Gambling

Have fun, be safe, and make good choices!
By Jon H. Friedl, Jr. Ph.D., President
Jon Friedl, LLC

A great part of the population in this state, South Florida particularly, is made up of immigrants and retired citizens, both categories prone towards wagering. The first, searching for the life-changing breakthrough, the latter to fill up their time with a dose of excitement. These being said, there is no surprise that gambling in FL has its fair share of supporters. But are they modern enough to insist for access at the latest developments in this field? Is USA online gambling legal in Florida? And when should we expect the first online casino Florida based?

Best Florida Online Casino Sites

(CO) Colorado Gambling

Contents

Florida Gambling Laws

The question of is online gambling legal in the USA still remains a tough one to answer in a straightforward manner. The legislative jungle this subject crosses makes many potential businessmen consider the hassle might not be worth the risks assumed. The same uncertainty governs federal gambling laws in Florida, as well as individual state legislation.

The state of Florida has had its number of ups and downs and the journey of regulating wagering finalized in what seems to be a monopoly. A situation which has brought in its turn, a lot of controversial decisions on what games are accepted and what is not. There are a lot of grey, undecided areas, as is the case with Florida online casinos, which aren’t specifically stated as being neither illicit nor legal.
The complications had begun since the 1930s, when in just 6 years, lawmakers managed to deem all forms of gambling illegal, then allowing slots machines, finalizing with another complete ban on all types of wagering. This undoubtedly started the dance.

In more recent days, the Seminole Tribe put grounds to a bingo hall in 1979, which turned into a casino along with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, going all the way into creating a regular monopoly, hold by this tribe, with its seven casinos that hold them all the rights on organizing banked games and poker, in the majority of places.

Monopoly being instated, different factions wanted to expand other forms of commercial gambling, resulting in many groups of interest putting pressure on lawmakers to get to a final form of gambling laws. This and the lawsuits contesting the Seminole’s monopoly have developed an intricate system of rules and restrictions.

The Letter of the Law – Extracts

The set of laws that creates the legal framework of gambling in FL has a series of definitions whose interpretations are used for establishing what’s legal and what’s not.

Thus, most games that involve an outcome left to chance on any degree are banned. The casinos belonging to the Seminoles are exempt under federal law. There are a couple of horse tracks, which are also allowed to offer some casino-like games, the so-called “racinos”. And finally, a small number of greyhound racetracks, but seeing how they constantly suffered in popularity along the years, they have recently been voted to be closed down, starting 2021.

Games of skill aren’t exempt of the lawful ban, sports betting not being on the right side of law-makers’ acceptance of placing bets. There is however the notable exception of jai-alai, the only sport where wagering is allowed on results.

Following the trend of online gambling laws in the USA, lawmakers have yet to take a categorical stand on the matter, leaving things in the grey area of legally unspecified subjects. Florida online gambling laws don’t mention anything about these sorts of games being legal or not. However, there is a specification about hosting, owning or enabling casinos or other sorts of establishments where wagering is permitted, being out of the law. Therefore, no Internet casino operator is taking a chance of creating such a business Florida-based.

Any modification in the foreseeable future is hard to believe it’ll occur, on account of the 2018 decision stating that any expansion on the subject of gambling, be it Internet-based or the more classic approach, must be submitted to a statewide vote, in the form of a referendum.

Online Gambling Situation

As stated earlier, the need for online gambling regulations hasn’t been thus far among the priorities of Florida lawmakers. This means that no FL online casinos are going to be based in this state anytime soon. With this bearer of bad news comes the natural query: if you’re a Florida state resident, can you gamble online for real money?

The answer to that is positive. Although the state law mentions a ban on organizing casino-type businesses, this only refers to those who own this type of affair and not to those players who demand this service. Based on this principle, there are some offshore online gambling sites that take advantage of the grey area this law creates and offer their services to FL residents. For example, Bovada casino which is legal in Florida.

• Top 1 USA online casino
• Fast payouts

Most of these sites are powered by RTG software, this being one of the few online games providers which don’t frown upon accepting US-based players, we gathered almost all RTG casinos on our website. Also, this is one of the famed software providers, renowned for the large variety of game versions, going from the classical slots or table games, to the lesser known 7 reel slots, progressive jackpots, or some modern days view on poker. Given the enticing bonuses, they give to customers, FL players have nothing to regret on joining one of these secure sites.

There are a couple of warning signs to look out for whenever accessing some of the sites that aren’t specifically mentioned in the reviews here, mainly on the security risks that such an unchecked site poses.

Also, it’s good to know, that most offshore sites apply additional security measures when it comes down to withdrawing money from the online account. They require extra verifications and mostly accept as means of getting a hold of the money only wire transfers or bank checks. Involving an independent bank in these transactions means an additional assurance against falling victim to any sort of fraud.

Offline Gambling

Tribal casinos

As stated in other paragraphs, the Seminole Nation managed to monopolize the gambling domain in this state, by owning all 7 brick and mortar casinos. On top of that, they’ve managed to own a couple of establishments in other states across the country, through their company Hard Rock International. With such an appetite for business and with, no doubt, quite an influence among state’s legislators, the prospect of a Florida online casino to be opened any time soon, seems like a distant dream.

Betting Tracks

These are the only things that keep a full state of monopoly to take place, seeing how betting is allowed here, on the races, as well as pari-mutuel and some can even offer casino-type games. The balance might shift a little after the 2018 decision that all dog races are going to be banned starting 2021. But all 14 establishments that currently host this type of racing will be allowed to offer others kinds of wagering games. Horse races, on the other hand, seem like they’re good to go for a fair amount of time, still being highly popular and piquing interest.

Jai-alai

The only skill-based sport which can be wagered on is the Latino popular jai-alai. The Basque original game is a sport brought-with by Cuban immigrants and the large popularity it holds in Miami especially, convinced regulators to exempt it from the written rules. Perhaps, given this precedent being set and with the proper pressure, Florida online gambling can still be put on the map.

Casino Cruises

One of the popular pass-times, there are a high number of casino cruises, many of them going to the close-by Caribbean Islands or the Bahamas. As for the lack of interest in online gambling Florida has other interesting options, as we can see.

Social Gaming

The closest representative that online gambling Florida has is in the social gaming field. The Seminoles, although disagree with constituting a Florida online casino, did, however, launch two social gaming sites through the Hard Rock International company. So, an openness towards the Internet market exists.

Development in the Field of Gambling

Referendum

The year of 2018 came with a number of decisions on the wagering subject, affecting indirectly the Florida online gambling laws. It has been decided that any legislative modification on the matter of gambling expansion, is bound to pass a referendum, in which people need to express their vote on the matter. So, for the opening of a new online casino, Florida’s population must first embrace the idea.

Dog Races

The state decided to close down all dog race facilities, on account of their popularity not being what it once was. If popularity is an indicator on what goes and what stays, perhaps there is still a chance for Florida online gambling.

Other changes

The soon to be disaffected dog tracks are going to be provided with the option of operating off-track betting on simulcasting races. After the deadline of 2021, poker clubs can be opened using the same facilities. Hosting slots in Florida’s old dog tracks are going to be permitted starting the same year. Any change towards the expansion of gambling is good news for FL online gambling.

You Might Also be Interested in:

Alabama online casinos
Georgia state online casinos

Is betting legal in FL State?

Yes. The tribal casinos offer a wide array of options. Besides these, there are horse racing facilities or bingo halls. Concerning Internet betting, although very few legal online gambling USA sites exist, you can find more than one option on offshore-based online casinos.

Cached

Is online gambling legal in Florida?

American online gambling has been in the last couple of years under constant stress, due to ever-changing regulations, many of which scared operators off. Although there are no current Florida online casinos, the offer sustained by websites licensed in other countries with a more relaxed attitude towards the phenomenon is vast and easy to access.

What risks are there when gambling online?

Extra care should be given when betting in online casinos for real money. Unfortunately, gambling on the internet is the subject of many fraudulent attempts. That’s why only accessing sites that have proven to be safe, such as the websites from our list, is of the utmost importance.

Is online sports betting legal in Florida?

This is one of the grey area subjects that are neither specifically illegal, nor are they 100% sure to be permitted. But what is sure to be allowed is betting on those online gambling sites that accept Florida players, mostly being headquartered offshore.

Is online poker legal in Florida?

The same grey area is available here, with the law being subject of many different interpretations. The main idea is that there is nothing holding you back, legally-wise, for playing online poker on those safe and secure sites that allow you to.

What is the minimum legal gambling age in Florida?

18 for pari-mutuel, casinos, lottery tickets, bingo. For poker in Miami, with needing to be 21 elsewhere for playing poker. The legal internet gambling age is the same applied in the player’s state of provenance.

If I win in online casinos can I withdraw my money?

Whenever playing online slots for real cash, for example, the money won contractually belong to you, and the online casinos are obligated to put at your disposal. The only issue is that with the federal laws governing internet gambling the USA, withdrawals aren’t finalized on the spot. They’re usually handled via wire transfers or checks through banks, and these take a couple of days to be processed.

What are the development expectations regarding gambling in FL State?

There is low interest, close to none, for currently regulating online gambling in Florida. But the options provided by other state-based, as well as offshore, Internet casinos are there at Florida’s resident’s disposal.