Types of gambling allowed in Florida

[TheGeneral+]

LOTTERY:

The Florida Lottery, established in 1987, contracts with more than 11,000 vendors to sell lottery tickets. The biggest jackpot, shared by six ticket holders, was $106.5 million in 1990. So far this year, more than 97 million have won more than $855 million in six Lottery games. Money gained from Lottery sales go to education.

PARI-MUTUELS:

Florida allows pari-mutuel betting on thoroughbred and harness horse racing, greyhound racing and jai alai games. There are 26 pari-mutuel facilities in Florida that take bets on live events. Tracks have been allowed to have card rooms since 1996 and 12 have permits to do so.

CRUISE SHIP GAMBLING:

Several ships that allow gambling onboard are allowed to operate out of Florida's 14 deep water ports and other public and private docks. Many of the cruises have no foreign destination, but simply take passengers beyond the three-mile limit on the Atlantic coast or the 9.1 mile limit in the Gulf of Mexico where they can legally gamble. In 2002, the Florida Day Cruise Association said there were 18 gambling vessels operating out of Florida ports. The trade association estimates the cruises have about 3 million passengers a year, about 40 percent of which are tourists.

INDIAN GAMING:

The Seminole and Miccosukee Indian Tribes conduct high stakes bingo, card gaming, and video gaming at eight locations in Florida. Indian tribes, as sovereign nations, are free from most federal and state government control, but they are generally ruled by the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030805/APN/308050759

 

[HacheMan]

All of these stink General.....NO sports included, except on a couple of those casino boats, and the odds are lousy I hear. I just dont think the idiotic politicians will ever understand that people are going to gamble, regardless of what they try to do, and how much money they could bring in off of such.

 

[TheGeneral+]

Yeah Hache, Interesting the boredom that is listed above. We need legalized sports betting for sure on the list

Seems the list is all inclusive of scenerios helping the state governement get paid too.

 

[HacheMan]

Yep, and my buddy went to the "new" Seminole Indian Casino Hotel (Not completely finished) and he said they dont even have Blackjack, etc....the more popular games.....Only poker and slots!.....Useless!

 

[Fishhead]

Here is the scoop since I live in Tampa, Florida and been to EVERY casino boat, 4 race tracks, 80% of the Indian casinos, and play the lottery.

BOATS- Actually 2-3 that are pretty decent. Some have sports books that actually offer reduced vig promos and other gimmicks. Limits are 1,000 or less. About 4-5 of the boats offer 100%++ video poker...not as regulated as Nevada, but I think they are on the up and up as a whole. Been doing ok on them anyways.

Tracks- Tampa Downs is a nice horse racing facility and you can rub shoulders with the BOSS, George Steinbrenner. In the spring many ballplayers and coaches can be found here. Last spring, JJGOLD and myself spent the day with Don Zimmer losing our ass. Tampa is home to what is probably the best dog track in America..DERBY LANE. Absolutely beautiful track on the bay. You can also find another track in the city.

Indian casinos- They have no table games, just poker tournaments that are a rip-off and their OWN designed slot machines. However, they have many progressives and EVERY day if your lucky enough to get a seat, you will be playing on a POSITIVE EXPECTATION MACHINE....have to beat the Asians to the machines though. The Hard Rock recently opened here in Tampa and offers pretty much the same except they added some IGT machines(all bad pay). Nice food joint and bar however......waitresses are nothihg to write to Mom about.

Lottery- The lottery is a nice LONG shot play here about every 3 months or so when it climbs above 60 million on the MEGA. The highest it has been since I have been here is 123 million.

Enjoy the information batfloridians!

 

[TheGeneral+]

Thanks Fishhead for the info. You guys cant be to bad off down there. Everyone up here wants to go there. LOL

 

[HacheMan]

Strut, your from this area also? Myself, DeNiro, and Pat McIrish are also I believe. Interesting, we might have to have a "Florida Bash" similar to the Vegas one if this keeps up!

 

[Fishhead]

Proud to say I am good friends with McIRICH....he lives in Tampa also. Heck, he has even frequented the casino boats with me on occassion.

 

[HacheMan]

Maybe I'll come meet you guys sometime Strut in the future.

 

[oldmantime]

STRUT888/FISHEAD ??

I had no Idea you could bet sports on some of the casino boats. Do the boats go out every day. take straight up bets on the major sports, etc. Or do they only allow parleys and bets in their favor? (I may move to Fla. yet) I used to work around Daytona in the early 70's--actually only 1 year)

 

[WildBill]

Boats can offer a lot because they charge you a pretty steep fee to get on them at popular times, pay no taxes on their winnings, and have a nice monopoly since if you are losing halfway into the cruise you just can't walk down the street and play in another joint. Further if you are losing and are stuck in international waters, you going to just give up for the day? Most people will gamble until they ain't got a dime to use. The slots and video poker on the boats are old games too, they didn't cost them much to put on there since once again no competition so they don't need new games.

Sports betting is quite good, but there have been threats by the AG and others that they will someday find a judge that agrees with them that unless the bet is made in international waters, the game is played while you are out there and you get paid while you are out there, you have broken the law. Since the ships take some time to get to those waters and back to take advantage of a Sunday they would have to be out there for like 9 or 10 hours and no one is going to do that except for people who are only betting on sports. Get a clue, they don't want you there. So they do offer good vig, but of course no price shopping. The point is to say "hey its Sunday, come bet the NFL with us", but of course go play something else in the meantime.

The tribal casinos are that way because the Governor won't sign a compact with them. They can't offer BJ or anything but those games. And here's another thing, while the machines might say IGT or look like a slot, they really aren't. Standard slots are not allowed in Florida. What those are supposed to represent is basically a video version of a pulltab. Now these manufacturers are good at making it look like a slot, but in essence the games are supposed to work like you buy say 100 scratch off lottery tickets and all you are doing is putting the ticket into the machine to see if you won. The game itself cannot be solely played on the machine, that would break the rules of tribal gaming set forth by Congress.

 

[KennyB]

The Indians are betting they get real table games soon. The Seminoles are building a huge "casino" in combination with Hard Rock in Hollywood. I was talking with some of their attorneys who feel confident that the Feds are going to allow full casino gambling within the next 1-2 years.

I am not so confident they will get it since the State is so adamant in fighting it. Plus I don't trust the fukers for a minute. The "slot machines" they have are the biggest ripoff yet the suckers line up.

 

[PatrickMcIrish]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Hache man:
Maybe I'll come meet you guys sometime Strut in the future.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Always welcome, just let us know.

Fishhead hit the nail on the head with what he said. Seminole Gaming Casino is an absolute joke. No regulatory body governs them, the video machines are a joke. Absolute joke. If they want them to pay out 10% then they pay out 10%. Card room is quarter poker (though there is some state wide legislation to allow pots up to $200 at pari-mutuals) and small tournaments with an unreal take out for the house. Better off playing Bingo than giving your money away here.....

 

[WildBill]

Welcome to the world of tribal gaming gentlemen. You see every tribe is governed in the same way, the only thing that differs state to state is what exact games are legal. There are no rules on payoffs and no arbitration for disputes like you have in Nevada or other land-based casino states. You are quite simply on your own. All is not bleak though, these guys aren't that stupid. If you had a machine that paid out 10% no one would ever win and their business would dry up overnight. You have to set your machines properly, the tightest machines that operate in the open generally will not have a payback less than 80%, with 88% or so more likely. The window between tight and loose is fairly narrow, but that is dictated by gambling theory. You have to give out enough money and create enough short-term winners or no one will play. But this is dictated by business concerns, not by any kind of oversight.