JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It looks like a slot machine, it spins like a slot machine, and it pays out like a slot machine… But according to the Hard Rock Bet app, it’s sports betting.
The new slot machine-style games just launched on the Seminole Tribe’s sports betting app, but lawmakers who helped push forward the current gaming deal between the state and the Tribe told Action News Jax the new format is not what they had in mind when they gave the Tribe exclusive rights to offer sports betting via their mobile app.
Gaming attorney Daniel Wallach explained the ability of the Tribe to offer the new game it all comes down to the definition of sports betting in the Seminole Gaming Compact, which allows for bets to be placed on “past” sporting events.
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According to the Hard Rock Bet app, despite the games appearing like slot machines, users are actually randomly betting on the results of past motor races… And the outcome of the race is tied to the slot machine animation you see on your screen.
“If it’s based on a previously conducted sporting event, you can operate it so it almost functions like a slot machine 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year and there’s precedent for this,” said Wallach.
But optically, it’s hard to see past the appearance of a traditional slot machine, though users do have the option of visualizing an animation of car race and even manually selecting winners.
Still, Congressman Randy Fine (R-FL 6th District), who carried the Seminole Compact in the Florida House, argued lawmakers did not intend to legalize “pocket slots “when they gave the Tribe exclusive rights to offer sports betting through their app.
“Slot machine terminals operating on that sort of math model have existed for more than ten years, since I was in the industry. And so migrating online is not a surprise. Clearly that was not the intent of the compact. Of that there is not question. The question is, is it legal?” said Fine.
Florida was allowed to give the Tribe sports betting as part of the deal signed back in 2021, under the idea that: 1) Sports betting is not the same as casino gaming and 2) Because servers were to be kept on tribal lands, the new offerings were not an expansion of gaming in the state, which would normally require voter approval under the state constitution.
But if these new slot-like games were deemed to be casino-style gaming, Fine worries the whole compact could be put at risk… And with it, the hundreds of millions of dollars that flow into state coffers each year as part of the deal.
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“I would say the Tribe is taking on legal risk to their entire enterprise by proceeding with this. The whole thing could get shut down, certainly,” said Fine.
Wallach noted a competitor, like a paramutual gaming facilities, could file a legal challenge, or even anti-gaming groups.
But he argued both would likely run into trouble because, based on the wording of the compact, these pocket-slots were technically authorized, whether lawmakers knew it or not.
“I think the Tribe really understood what they were doing and maybe the state did as well, but there’s also, I think, a more plausible explanation, is that the Tribe got the better of the state on that issue,” said Wallach.
We reached out to the Florida Gaming Commission, asking whether it believes the new slot-style mobile games comply with the gaming compact.
We haven’t heard back.
Action News Jax also reached out to the Hard Rock Bet app and is awaiting a response.
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