2020 was the year that changed a lot of lives in more ways than we can count. Naturally, some of the aspects have returned to how they were before the pandemic, but some of them are yet to return. Without any doubt, we will need to wait for a couple more years before we can say that for them.
However, some of them are completely changed, and it’s not likely they will return to the previous condition. One of these activities is certainly online gambling. Just think about that, for almost two years, land-based casinos were closed.
In the meantime, the number of sites of this sort has skyrocketed. Because of that, many countries and states out there have decided to legalize it completely, to reap all the benefits it provides, mainly revenue. The state has done it in August 2024. Since then, every Florida citizen can participate in these activities freely.
Not only that, there are a lot of gambling sites that have been created for this purpose. As you can see, this industry has grown immensely during that time. In this article of ours, we would like to talk about the growth of online gambling in this state. Without further ado, let’s take a look at some key points.
The History
It needs to be said that gambling was legalized in this state in 2004. However, it is interesting to see that the only discipline that wasn’t part of the bill was horse racing. We can draw a parallel between this decision to greyhound racing being banned in FL in 2024.
We can see that the reason behind these decisions was the maltreatment of animals. Many citizens were in favor of banning these disciplines. When it comes to online gambling, it was officially done in 2024. Before that, we can see that there were no laws that addressed this question in any way.
Because of that situation, there were local sites. Instead, those who wanted to participate in this sort of game were able to do it by visiting those who were made in states that approved this sort of gambling, except for Native American tribes that are.
It needs to be said that 2018 was the year when the favor of legalizing any sort of gambling was at its highest peak. 2024 was just the year when all of these movements were put in form of a law. Naturally, all these sites will need to meet certain standards before they are allowed to operate within the state.
Key Stats and Facts
The gambling industry’s revenue in Florida is nothing short of exceptional in recent years. If you take a look at some official figures, you will see that only in 2017, its amount to almost $900 million. According to some projections, it can potentially rise to $1.03 billion by 2024. We are talking about research done before the global pandemic of COVID-19, which had a positive impact on online gambling.
Since this legalization of online gambling in this state was done only a couple of months ago, it is not possible to have relevant numbers about how much revenue it has generated. However, we don’t doubt it will represent a significant chunk of the overall revenue. We will just have to see how all of this will play out, even though all the predictions are positive.
The reason why so many experts are positive is that the number of sites that are launched during this time is higher than in some other states. Many say it’s because we are talking about a state that is perceived as a tourist attraction. So, chances are that a lot of tourists will be interested in participating in this sort of game. Maybe it can get a certain percentage of what Las Vegas or Atlantic City has.
Not only that, we can see that local sites have adopted pretty much all the effective practices we can find in the most successful sites out there. For instance, it’s obvious that all of them will offer their visitors welcome bonuses. With only one exception, all the most popular sites of this sort in Florida will offer a welcome bonus that doesn’t expire at all. (Source: https://www.basketballinsiders.com/online-casinos/fl/)
What Does the Future Hold?
If you followed the situation in Florida, you can see that the Governor, Ron DeSantis, has made an agreement with the Seminole tribe that allows them to adopt online sports betting for the next 30 years. Many experts believe that this is a clear indication of where the state is moving.
That’s why they have a positive opinion about what we can expect to happen in the future. Besides that, we can see that many experts in this field believe that this agreement can generate more than $6 billion during the agreed timeline.
Combine that with a recent bill that legalized the concept as a whole, and you will see that there are a lot of things we can be positive about. We’ve mentioned that the whole state is often perceived as a tourist location, which adds to the overall quality.
Furthermore, it’s quite obvious that the current trend of e-sports betting is something that we can expect to become much more widespread in the future. For some reason, many don’t consider this factor will play a pivotal role in future expansion, but we don’t have any doubt that will be the case.
So, when you calculate all of these elements into one, you should have no other conclusion than positive expectations.
In Conclusion
We can see that Florida has followed the example of many other states who have already legalized online gambling completely and now are reaping all the benefits. With that in mind, we can see that the future looks bright for this industry within the borders of Florida.
If you take a look at some examples of other states that have done this process successfully, there is no room for doubt. We hope you will find this article of ours both entertaining and informative.