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DraftKings and FanDuel are accelerating their efforts to push for entry into what will most certainly become the most lucrative sports betting market. These are the two companies behind Florida Education Champions and the accompanying fledchamps website. Despite the boost in ad buys across the Sunshine State, the Twitter page only had just over 100 followers as of November 20.
DraftKings and FanDuel want to join a host of internationally licensed websites that are currently accessible to Florida residents and visitors as well as the Seminoles, who just launched their own mobile app. It is the first - and for now - the only sportsbook allowed to be based in the state. They may have to put those plans on hold, however, as a federal judge mulls over whether a Florida compact applies to mobile betting.
By law, Florida residents are required to approve any form of gambling expansion. Sports betting by itself could be deemed a form of expansion, though the real controversy involves the mobile elements. The Seminole Tribe argues any bets placed via one's smart phone are actually taking place on servers hosted on Tribal land.
DraftKings and FanDuel see the voter referendum as a way to gain entrance. Together they have launched a petition initiative but, to date, there were a mere 66,817 petitions verified as of early November. They claim there are over 350,000 in the process of being verified. That is still nowhere near the 891,589 valid signatures required to get on the November 2022 ballot.
The Seminoles are doing their part to see that the two companies fail to reach that number. They launched a competing ad warning residents to stay clear of "out-of-state" interest groups and warning “Don’t sign the gambling petitions".
“Watch out Florida,” a new ad backed by the Seminole Tribe begins.
The tribe has pumped $10 million into the new ad campaign airing across the state.
The DraftKings and FanDuel spot tells state residents to "be a Champion for Education and bring more sports betting to Florida". The education component applies to new revenue directed towards education funding in Florida.
Christina Johnson with Florida Education Champions calls the Tribe’s message hypocritical because they, along with Disney, supported Amendment 3 in 2018, which gave voters ultimate control over gambling in Florida.
“The Seminole bosses are spending millions of dollars asking Florida voters not to sign a petition on the very same issue: to have a voice in the expansion of gaming,” said Johnson.
And there are signs Disney, which owns the sports network ESPN, now wants along for the ride.
That company's CEO Bob Chapek during a Wednesday earnings call said that Disney has found both a broader acceptance of sports betting among the general public and that people see ESPN and Disney as separate brands.
“We have done substantial research in terms of the impact not only to the ESPN brand, but the Disney brand, in terms of consumers’ changing perceptions of the acceptability of gambling,” said Chapek. “And what we’re finding is that there’s a very significant isolation.”
Disney's work on the 2018 ballot initiative with the Seminoles was widely believed at the time to be an effort to reduce gambling in the state by allowing the Seminoles monopoly. The unlikely partners spent a total of $31 million to make it all come to fruition.
That alliance ended abruptly over the summer with the announcement of the new state gambling compact greenlit by Governor Ron DeSantis.
“I don’t feel betrayed. The Seminole Tribe’s job is to do what it feels is best for the Seminole Tribe,” said John Sowinski, who was president of Voters In Charge, the group that led the Amendment 3 campaign.
U.S. District Court Judge Dabney L. Friedrich is still reviewing West Flagler Associates et al v. Haaland et al. West Flagler Associates is the entity behind a handful of casinos that operate in the state independent of the Seminoles while Haaland refers to U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
There is precedence that goes against the Seminoles "bets taking place on the server" claim.
United States of America v. Jay Cohen found in 2000 that wagers taken over the Internet by World Sports Exchange based out of Antigua were indeed being placed on US soil, not the servers hosted in Antigua where WSEX was licensed at the time.
Cohen spent nearly two years in jail with his whereabouts currently unknown. His partner in World Sports Exchange, Steve Shillinger, blew his brains out in 2013.
- Alejandro Botticelli, Gambling911.com
