The history of brick and mortar casinos in Florida goes back to the years of the Great Depression. Today, America’s Sunshine State has nearly 150 casinos, spanning from the panhandle to the southernmost tip of the mainland, and everywhere in between. What was once known solely for its beautiful beaches and tourist attractions, Florida is quickly evolving into a mecca of gambling never before seen this far south of the Mason-Dixon line.
Currently only Florida tribal owned casinos and casinos in Broward and Miami-Dade counties are the only legal areas for slot machines to be in operation. $300 million is being paid annually to the state by the Seminoles as part of an arrangement that would prevent other counties from offering slot gaming. Hollywood, Florida 33314 (954) 327-7625. Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa 5223 N. Orient Road Tampa, Florida 33610 (800) 282-7016 (813) 627-7625. Click For Practice Play FREE SLOTS. No Signup. Instant Play Exclusive Free Play! Select any of these three slot games for exclusive access inside BOVADA CASINO. No player signup is.
The following few sections will delve much deeper into the inner-workings of Florida’s many casinos.
Players looking to gamble on table games without having to sail out of Florida can use our list of recommended Florida online casinos for great online slots, blackjack, craps, and roulette options.
Online Casinos That Accept Flordia Residents
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Casinos in Florida
Every casino in Florida, along with its associated Floridian city, is listed as follows:
Calder Casino & Race Course-Miami Gardens
Casino Miami Jai-Alai-Miami
Creek Entertainment Gretna-Gretna
Dania Jai-Alai-Dania Beach
Daytona Beach Kennel Club and Poker Room-Daytona Beach
Derby Lane-St. Petersburg
Ebro greyhound Track-Ebro
Flagler Dog Track and Magic City Casino-Miami
Fort Pierce Jai-Alai & Poker-Fort Pierce
Gulfstream Park Racing and Casino-Hallandale Beach
Hamilton Jai-Alai and Poker-Jasper
Hialeah Park Race Track-Hialeah
Jacksonville Kennel Club-Orange Park
Jefferson County Kennel Club-Monticello
Mardi Gras Casino-Hallandale Beach
Melbourne Greyhound Park-Melbourne
Miccosukee Resort and Gaming Center-Miami
Naples/Fort Meyers Greyhound Track-Bonita Springs
Ocala Poker & Jai-Alai-Ocala
Orange Park Kennel Club-Orange Park
Palm Beach Kennel Club-West Palm Beach
Pensacola Greyhound Track-Pensacola
Pompano Park-Pompano Beach
Sarasota Kennel Club-Sarasota
Seminole Casino Big Cyprus-Clewiston
Seminole Casino-Brighton—Okeechobee
Seminole Casino Immokalee-Immokalee
Seminole Coconut Creek Casino-Coconut Creek
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood-Hollywood
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tampa-Tampa
Seminole Casino-Hollywood—Hollywood
Tampa Bay Downs-Tampa
Tampa Greyhound Track-Tampa
Victory Casino Cruises-Cape Canaveral
Gambling in Florida
Much like in Connecticut, land-based gambling in The Sunshine State is pretty much all about the local tribal gambling establishments. You won’t find any commercial casinos or card rooms in The Sunshine State, but that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying your favorite slots and table games in a live casino environment.
Other than that, Florida offers pari-mutuel horse race betting and operates its own lottery. Online lottery ticket sales aren’t allowed and the bill that was supposed to introduce them died in the Senate Committee in 2014.
The state doesn’t have any regulated iGaming sites, so most of the local online gambling enthusiasts rely on offshore casinos, poker rooms and sportsbooks that accept US-based customers.
Florida Casinos
Casinos in Florida tend to fit neatly into 2 distinct categories, racinos and Native American casinos. Racinos dominate Florida’s casino offering, making up more than 3/4s of the total casinos in the state.
Florida currently bans the operation of casinos outside of Native-American reservations. In 1988, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed, granting class two gambling licenses to all Native-American tribes within the US. Since then, several popular casinos have been established in Florida, such as:
- The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino located in Tampa
- The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood located in Hollywood
- Seminole Casino Brighton located in Okeechobee
- Miccosukee Resort and Gaming located in Miami
- The Big Cypress Casino located in Clewiston
Both of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casinos are operated by the Seminole tribe and are the two largest gambling establishments in Florida. The Miccosukee tribe lacks the gambling compacts that the Seminole own, and as a result, are only allowed to operate class two games (slot machines and keno).
Players may gamble on card games such as Blackjack and poker, but traditional table games like Craps and Roulette are not permitted. To play the full range of table games, players must board a boat which sails out to international waters. Once outside of Florida’s jurisdiction, wagering on games of chance becomes legal. Popular ports for the cruises-to-nowhere include:
- Fort Lauderdale
- Jacksonville
- Miami
- Tampa
- Miramar
Slot Casinos In Florida
Florida Racinos
Racinos are, as you might have guessed, greyhound courses or horse tracks that are accompanied by gambling facilities such as slots, blackjack, and/or poker. Because every racino is different, some may only offer slot play while others will give off the look and feel of the casinos you would find in larger gambling destinations such as Atlantic City or Las Vegas.
Florida Native American Casinos
The other predominant type of casino found in Florida are those owned and operated by Native American tribes. Casinos like Seminole Casino Hollywood are owned by a particular Native American tribe and are situated on their reservation. Because Indian reservations are treated as their own sovereign regions, the law of Florida which prevented casinos did not stop the Native Americans from constructing their own.
A lot of the Native American casinos in existence in Florida today are similar to the resort casinos you will find lining the Las Vegas strip. Equipped with a casino, hotel, spa, restaurants, shops, and other attractions, Native American casinos tend to blow the socks off of the racinos that make up a majority of Floridian gambling destinations.
Florida Cruise Ships with Casinos
The last type of Floridian casino is the casino cruise. On boats that are really nothing more than floating casinos, gamblers will be taken out to sea where the law of the land has no say in whether they gamble or not. For cruises on Florida’s west coast, gamblers will be taken 9 miles out into the Gulf of Mexico while cruises on Florida’s east coast need to only travel 3 miles out into the Atlantic Ocean. These cruise casinos have all the table games and slots you would expect to find at any casino, floating or otherwise.
Flordia Sportsbooks & Sports Betting
Even though the US Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of sports betting legalization on a state-by-state basis, the chances of sports betting coming to Florida are low. The Native-American tribes currently hold gaming compacts with the state, which would be rendered void if sports gaming became legal.
In November 2018, the citizens of Florida will vote on amendment 3, which would modify the way gambling is defined in the state constitution. If passed, the general populace will gain the ability to build momentum on the legalization of sports gambling.
Even if everybody in the Sunshine State supported sports gambling today, it would take until 2020 before the needed legislation could be implemented.
eSports and fantasy gambling
Florida law does not differentiate between wagers made on electronic sports (eSports) and traditional sports. As a result, eSports gambling is currently illegal in the state.
Since 2015, Florida legislators have made several big pushes to legalize daily fantasy sports (DFS) gambling. The most recent attempt took the form of Senate Bill 840, which has yet to make it past the Conference Committee. One of the biggest challenges Florida faces with DFS gaming is whether to classify it as gambling. Legislators haven’t figured out a way to work around the explicit punishments defined in the Florida gambling laws on illegal gambling and bookmaking. Many hope that if voters successfully pass Amendment 3, they will then vote on an amendment legalizing DFS gambling.
Animal racing
Florida permits gambling on horse racing. Players may only place pari-mutuel wagers on thoroughbred races, quarter horse races, and harness races. These wagers can be made both off-track and inter-track.
Thoroughbred racing is the most popular form of horse racing in Florida, and the state boasts some of the best thoroughbred racing tracks in the country, namely:
- The Calder Race Course located in Miami
- Gulfstream Park located in Hallandale
- The Tampa Bay Downs located in Tampa Bay
Additional horse racing tracks can be found in:
- Hallandale Beach
- Miami Gardens
- Pompano Beach
Any race track with a greyhound permit may host dog races. Similarly to horse race gaming, pari-mutuel wagers can be made both off-track and inter-track.
Poker Games in Florida
In 2010, the $2 maximum poker bet rule was eradicated, clearing the path for most Native-American casinos to host serious live poker tables. Popular poker rooms in Florida include:
- The Big Easy Casino located in Hallandale
- Creek Entertainment Gretna
Standard cash games are commonplace throughout Florida including larger casinos such as the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood, which also hosts some large field WPT events.
Social gambling is allowed as long as the poker game uses penny-ante style wagering that does not exceed $10. Poker games of this nature must be hosted in a private residence.
Florida Lottery
Florida currently runs an in-state lottery, which offers popular games such as:
- Pick 2, 3, 4, and 5
- Fantasy 5
- Lucky Money
- Florida Lotto
The Sunshine State also allows a variety of multi-state lotteries, including:
- Powerball
- Mega Millions
- Cash4Life
Half of the prize is awarded to the lottery winner, 39% of the money pool goes to Florida in the form of state taxes, and the remaining amount is claimed by lottery operators. All lottery proceeds gathered by Florida go to the state public education fund, which is used primarily for the construction and maintenance of schools. Lottery prizes over $600 may be subject to garnishment if the winner is delinquent on their taxes or owes child support. Winners must claim their prize within 180 days or forfeit it.
Florida Bingo Games
Charitable organizations that qualify for exemption from federal income taxes may host charity gaming events. Any organization that runs an illegal bingo operation with jackpots over $250 is convicted of a first-degree misdemeanor.
The Seminole tribes opened a high-stakes bingo hall in 1979, which still operates today and offers large bingo prize pools. Several other popular bingo parlors exist in Florida, including:
- Bingo Trail located in Port Charlotte
- Busch Bingo located in Tampa
- Jackpot Bingo located in Brandon
History of Florida Casinos
The history of Florida casinos can be linked directly to the grip the Great Depression had on the United States during the early 1930s. In 1932, the state of Florida legalized pari-mutuel betting in a large part of the state as a way of driving up revenue during a time when revenues were mostly drying up. This move was quickly followed in 1935 by the legalization of slot machines, a law that would eventually be repealed in 1973.
1979 marked the first year in which Indian bingo halls were legalized, a move that would see many Floridian Indian tribes turn to gambling as a way of bringing in revenue. Even today, most casinos in Florida are owned and operated by a variety of different Native American tribes.
In the 1980s, many Floridians circumvented the lack of traditional brick and mortar casinos by hitching a cruise on the many gambling vessels dotting the state’s ports. These cruises served the sole purpose of taking passengers out to sea and allowing them to freely gamble before returning to port a few hours or days later. Cruises like this still exist today and are a fun, interesting way to gamble.
Despite the state of Florida having a large gambling presence by the 1970s, state voters shot down measures to legalize casino gambling in 1978, 1986, and again in 1994. Ten years after the 1994 gambling legalization bill was shot down, Florida voters finally said yes to the legalization of casinos. Today, Florida is ranked the state with the 4th largest casino offering in the United States. Casinos can be found in every region of the state and are being built with increasing frequency.
Florida Gambling Rules & Facts
Before going to Florida and gambling, there are a few rules worth mentioning. For one, the gambling age changes depending on what type of gambling you would like to do.
-Due to the wording of Florida gaming law, betting on the result of a trial is treated as illegal.
-Illegal gambling outside of a tribal reservation is considered a second-degree misdemeanor, while any bookmaking is a third-degree felony.
-Florida residents may own and operate a slot machine within their home as long as the machine was manufactured 20+ years ago.
– If you are 18, playing poker is acceptable, but putting coins into a slot machine and pulling the reel is not.
– Games like blackjack and roulette also require you to be 21 before you can place a wager.
Florida Slot Casinos Las Vegas
– As is the case for almost all of the United States, Florida’s drinking age is 21.
– With regards to sports betting, it is not allowed in Florida casinos, though it is available, in abundance, on the many casino cruises offered all year long.
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If you’re looking to learn all about Florida online casinos, you’ve come to the right place. This page offers detailed insight as well as top casino site recommendations for players in Florida, including insight on the current legal issues regarding playing casinos online. Check out our list of online casinos that we believe are truly the best option for Florida customers.
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In the land of alligators, swamps, and over-priced mice (we’re looking at you Mickey), gambling might seem like an odd thing to hear about. But, if you’ve ever met any Floridian, you know that they love to gamble. While there are several land-based casinos offering some form of legal casino and slot action, there are still a lot of limitations. If you are looking for the full casino experience in Florida, you’re going to need to take your action online.
Best Florida Online Casinos
Florida online casinos offer all of the following:
- Incredible Casino Games
- Great Signup and Deposit Bonuses
- Fast Payouts and Plenty of Deposit Options
- VIP Program for Casino High Rollers
- Convenient and Safe Overall Experience
What Makes These the Best Casino Sites for FL Residents?
Free Disney gear! Ah, we’re just kidding. As far as we know, no FL online casinos offer you free Disney swag. But, there are a lot of actual reasons that some online casino sites are better than the rest. Some of these reasons are purely quality-based, while some of them have to deal with safety and security.
When it comes to racking and stacking Florida online casinos for real money, we take things seriously. Our teams work tirelessly to ensure that we’re always recommending the best. What makes an online casino “top” or “the best”? There’s a lot that goes into making that determination. While we’re not going to bore you with the laundry list of details, we do want to point out the top four reasons that we are confident this is the most up to date list of the top Florida online casinos.
You’re Able to Gamble Online From Florida
All of the online casinos that we’ve recommended here offer real money games to Floridians and those visiting the state. You might be shocked how often we’ve seen recommendations for the best Florida online casinos that are chalked full of companies that no longer offer service to Florida or never took action from FL gamblers! To be honest, we really can’t understand why a website would do this, but we think it has something to do with a word that rhymes with laziness…or maybe it’s just that word.
We make sure to not only see which online casinos accept Florida gamblers, but we test them to make sure that is the case.
It would be pretty annoying if you joined a FL online casino only to find out a few weeks later that they are packing up their bags and heading north with the snowbirds. Thankfully, you do not have to worry about that at all with any of the real money online casinos we recommend.
Quality, Trustworthiness, and Casino Reputation
While actually offering service to gamblers in Florida is a necessary piece of the puzzle, it’s just the tip of the iceberg. We don’t list every online casino or betting site that offers service to Floridians. Why? Because we are not a phonebook. We are not a directory. We are an online site that takes a lot of pride in making sure that we recommend only the best Florida casino sites for you. We take pride in being able to make things easier on you, so that you don’t have to sift through the riff-raft to find a quality online casino home.
Once we find that an online casino offers service to Florida gamblers, we start to analyze the site deeper.
Or to sum it all up…Can you play at these Florida online casinos safely and will you have a great time? If the answer is yes to both of these elements, we’re going to give the site a thumbs up.
Quantity and Quality of the Casino Games Offered
There’s a reason there are so many different theme parks in Florida – Floridians like options. From our experience with gamblers in Florida, this carries over into the casino realm as well. Florida gamblers love the ability to play a ton of different online casino games and online slots.
Because of this, it’s important that any Florida online casino we recommend offers a ton of options. Now, we’re not just looking for quantity of casino games and slots, but we’re also looking for the quality of these options. We’ll only give a betting site the credit for having a lot of gaming options if those are high-quality options that people actually want to play.
If you’re an option-nut or at least want to gamble somewhere that there are options in case you ever get a wild hair, you’re going to love the Florida casino sites we’ve recommended.
Bonuses and Free Money
The online Florida casinos have some of the biggest bonuses, and the best free money offers available in the industry. Yes, you can get free money and bonus promotions just for making the same bets you were going to make anyway. Online casinos love to compete for your business. Okay, they probably wish they didn’t have to, but they know that they need to. This means that if you pick the right Florida online casinos, you can get some killer bonuses, VIP rewards, and ultimately some free money.
All of the Florida online casino sites that we’ve recommended come with great promotions, bonuses, and rewards programs that you can take advantage of. One perk of all of these programs is that they kick in right away. This means that even if you aren’t a big-money player, you can still cash in on rewards. We think that everyone, regardless of how much you gamble should be treated as a VIP. Thankfully, these online casinos agree with us.
Are Online Casinos Legal in Florida?
The short answer is yes. However, it’s a bit of a gray area to some extent. While there are no specific laws making it illegal, there really aren’t any specific laws that address it legally. The only legislation that you will find addresses the casino operators and whether they are allowed to have their offices and operation based in FL. There is nothing saying that you as a gambler can’t legally gamble online in Florida.
Florida Slot Casinos Near
Well, it means that you can play your favorite games at online casinos in Florida. But, the casino options you have will all be based somewhere other than the state of Florida. You won’t notice a difference at all, but we just wanted you to be aware of that. Gambling online in Florida has not been directly addressed as far as we can interpret from the current statutes.
When it comes to brick and mortar casino gambling locations in Florida, there are several. But, you won’t find them anywhere but on Indian reservations. Casinos offering slots and table games are legal in Florida, but they are limited in where they are allowed to operate. The State of Florida has an agreement with the Seminole Indians to allow them to be the only operators of casino-style games in Florida.
When it comes to legal poker rooms in Florida, the net gets cast a lot wider. You’ll find card rooms all over the state on and off Indian reservations. In years past, this was not the case. But, thanks to some recent changes in gambling legislation, poker rooms are now allowed to thrive. Originally, the maximum you could buy-in for a game was $100 no matter what the stakes were. Thankfully, this has changed, and much more traditional poker games can now run in these legal Florida card rooms.
What do we expect in the future for the laws and regulations addressing legal gambling in the US? We expect to see something in the future coming out that is positive. Right now, as far as Florida is concerned, there are no issues, but legislation will pave the way for more legal online gambling operations to actually move into Florida.
Florida Online Casinos FAQ
It is! This is, of course, as long as you follow the two most important rules of gambling online.One – you need to make sure that you are only playing at reputable and trusted online casinos. If you avoid the unsavory sites that don’t have your best interests at heart, you are setting yourself up for a safe and enjoyable online gambling experience. How do you tell the difference? We handle that for you. Every Florida online casino recommended here has been fully vetted by our team.
Two – you need to make sure you are practicing good, safe online practices. This includes simple things like always using a solid password, never logging into a Florida casino account from a public computer, and always making sure you keep your computer or smart device up to date with the newest and best software.
If you can follow these two simple guidelines that you should be following no matter what you are doing online, your time gambling online in Florida will be safe.
Brick and mortar poker rooms are available all over the state and are completely legal. Casinos and slot halls are legal in the state of FL, but only on Seminole Indian land. Online gambling in Florida is not addressed directly by legal statutes which leaves it in a bit of a gray area. It is basically not illegal based on the current laws, but the details have not been fully fleshed out by the great legal minds of the state of Florida.No one has ever been arrested, charged, or even had an eye batted at them in regards to playing casino games online in Florida. The only legal guidelines out there address the casino and gambling site operators and not you the player. We do anticipate some more descriptive and positive legislation coming from the Florida legal system sometime in the near future. When? If you’ve ever seen the Florida judicial system work, you know that we have absolutely no idea how long that will take.
Free Slot Casinos
Picking out the best Florida online casino option for you is easy. Step one – determine what is most important to you in an online casino. This might be the banking options, the look and feel of the site, the bonuses available, or the games and slots that you can play. Once you know the answer to this, you can move on to step two.
Head to the top of this guide and start testing out a few of the different Florida casino options we have listed for you. All of these online casino sites will be safe, reputable, and offer a great online gambling experience. But, each is going to differ slightly, especially in the categories we just mentioned. Take a few minutes and find the betting site that best matches up with the wants and needs you determined in step one.