DraftKings and FanDuel defeated in Florida sports betting drive
$20m operator-sponsored widening initiative fails to obtain petition signatures required for entry into November 2022 ballot
An initiative backed by DraftKings and FanDuel to widen sports betting in Florida to include other operators has been shot down after failing to gain voter support.
The US sports betting heavyweights have spearheaded Florida Education Champions (FEC), a political action committee (PAC) organisation working to authorize sports betting at sports venues, pari-mutuel facilities, and online in Florida through legislator amendment.
Under the FEC initiative, rights to conduct sports betting in Florida would be given to Native American tribes as well as entities which have “existed for at least one year and that have conducted sports betting in at least 10 other states”.
If passed, the amendment would have seen other operators launch sports betting within eight months.
Current Florida legislation restricts online sports betting to the Seminole Tribe, under a controversial so-called ‘hub and spoke’ model and the tribe’s 30-year gaming compact with the Sunshine State.
However, this compact is the subject of a legal dispute between the Seminole Tribe, state authorities, out of state operators, and a number of Florida-based pari-mutuel operators.
More than $37m has been received by FEC to finance its lobbying initiative, with DraftKings contributing $22.7m and rival FanDuel contributing $14.4m to FEC over its seven-month lifespan.
To qualify for inclusion in a ballot taking place as part of US-wide elections in November, FEC would have been required to obtain more than 900,000 valid signatures from Florida voters by February 1.
However, as of January 29, the FEC initiative had only secured 492,000 signatures from Floridans, just half of the required amount.
In a statement, FEC seemingly admitted defeat in its efforts, blaming the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We are extremely encouraged by the level of support we saw from the more than one million Floridians who signed our petition and thank them for their efforts in wanting to bring safe and legal sports betting to Florida, while funding public education,” FEC said.
“While pursuing our mission to add sports betting to the ballot we ran into some serious challenges, but most of all the COVID surge decimated our operations and ability to collect in-person signatures.
“We want to thank our local Supervisors of Elections and staff members for their diligent work in verifying petitions.
“We will be considering all options in the months ahead to ensure that Floridians have the opportunity to bring safe and legal sports betting to the state, along with hundreds of millions of dollars annually to support public education,” FEC added.
Elsewhere, a rival lobbying initiative, Florida Voters In Charge (FVIC), which is backed by land-based casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corporation, came under fire from Florida’s attorney general over alleged voter fraud.
In December, the Seminole Tribe filed a lawsuit against FVIC alleging illegal petition gathering activities, with the tribe seeking to have all signatures obtained by FVIC declared null and void.
The Seminole suit against FVIC is still being considered by Floridan authorities.
However, at the same time, election authorities in the districts of Duval, Gulf, Pinellas, Marion, Brevard, and Bradford notified the Florida Secretary of State’s office that they had received fraudulent ballots.
The complaints have been referred in a memo to Florida’s Attorney General after some signatures were discovered to have been obtained from “deceased voters”, as well as mismatched signatures on ballots and other instances of impropriety.
The memo has been signed by Florida Deputy Attorney General John Guard.
“The filing of false, fraudulent initiative petitions undermines voter confidence and the electoral process,” it states.
“And our office is committed to working alongside the Secretary of State to act against those who undermine our electoral process,” it adds.
FVIC has defended its conduct throughout the period, however, the initiative faces an uphill battle to obtain inclusion in the November ballot.