Florida lawmakers are again trying to criminalize all internet gambling and sports betting that is not offered exclusively by the Seminole Tribe.
Rep. Berny Jacques’ House Bill 591 would make operating, conducting or promoting internet gambling a third-degree felony, with a carve-out for gaming activities conducted under the Seminole’s state tribal gaming compact.
Jacques’ legislation defines internet gambling as any game in which “money or other thing of value is awarded based on chance, regardless of any application of skill … and simulates casino-style gaming, including, but not limited to, slot machines, video poker and table games.”
HB 591 is the latest effort to broadly ban such online gambling, after similar bills were introduced earlier in 2025. Like several other recent Florida bills, the 86-page HB 591 aims to do a lot at once. It also includes measures to ban betting with insider information, limit gambling advertisement and revise criminal penalties for numerous offenses.
Sweeps in the crosshairs?
While the legislation’s text does not mention sweepstakes gaming by name, the overarching definition of illegal gambling could be interpreted to include those kind of dual-currency casino-style products.
That’s certainly the view of the Social Gaming Leadership Alliance (SGLA), a trade group representing operators and suppliers of what the organization is now labeling “Social Plus” games.
“We strongly disagree with the categorization that Social Plus games that utilize sweepstakes promotions have anything in common with illegal offshore gambling operations,” said SGLA Executive Director Jeff Duncan in a statement. “HB 591 laudably seeks to stop illegal gambling from taking place in the state of Florida but fails to account for how lawful promotional sweepstakes operate in Florida.”
Duncan added that SGLA’s partner companies, which include the likes of VGW and Modo Casino and Publishers Clearing House owner ARB Gaming, “operate fully within Florida’s sweepstakes, consumer protection, banking and financial transactions laws.” The SGLA says it is committed to working under further regulations.
Other bills in play in Florida and elsewhere
The latest attempt to crack down on unapproved non-Seminole online gambling comes after multiple efforts in the 2025 legislative session fizzled out this past spring. Meanwhile, other pieces of gambling legislation have been introduced ahead of 2026, including HB 189, which would legalize paid daily fantasy sports (DFS) within certain parameters and criminalize betting with insider info, among other things.
The likes of Montana, Connecticut, New Jersey and California have all banned sweeps-style gaming through legislation this year, and an approved bill to do so in New York has now reached the governor’s desk.
Florida’s HB 591 has been referred to committee, and has a similar companion measure in the Senate. Florida’s 2026 legislative session begins in March
Bill follows Hard Rock’s slot-style move
Since Florida lawmakers’ last efforts to crack down on online gambling outside of the Seminole compact, the tribe’s Hard Rock Bet platform has made waves by launching a new sports betting product that utilizes data from old car races to create an experience that bears a strong resemblance to a slot machine.
The new ‘Games’ vertical delivers slot-style games that operate similarly to the historical horse racing electronic wagering system that uses past horse races to generate outcomes instead of a random number generator. A Hard Rock Bet spokesperson told SBC Americas that the Seminole-owned company is delivering the new offering exclusively to Florida players under the tribe’s gaming compact within the definition of sports betting.
