Passage of Amendment 3 Effectively Kills iGaming Chances in Florida

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If you live in Florida and have any hopes that online poker will be returning anytime in the near future, you can put those hopes to bed now. On Tuesday, a constitutional amendment was approved that effectively will mean a death knell for online gambling expansion for any time in the future.

Amendment 3 was passed by 70% of the voters in the state, and effectively gives control over gambling expansion in the state to Florida citizens. As citizens have been largely against gambling expansion in the past, this seems almost a lock that online gambling, including online poker, has next to no chance of coming to the Sunshine State.

What is Amendment 3?

For those that have not been following politics outside of your home state, Amendment 3 is basically a Florida constitutional amendment that gives the power to decide any future gambling expansion to the people rather than to the Florida Legislature as it had been previously.

What does this mean exactly? It means that if anyone wants to attempt an expansion of gambling, it would require a public referendum vote in the same method as was done for Amendment 3. This will leave the future of gambling in the hands of the people rather than government and lobbying groups that are famous for influencing politicians.

Amendment Seen as a Protection Play for the Seminole

The Seminole Tribe of Florida stood to benefit the most from this amendment as it now makes it extremely difficult for others to compete with the tribe in the future. They own numerous gambling establishments and casinos in Florida and now that the people are the ones to decide on future gambling, the Seminole have formed themselves a virtual monopoly on gambling in the state.

The Seminole were very vocal supporters of this measure and spent liberally to help protect their interests. Another surprising supporter of the measure was Walt Disney World. While they are not involved in gambling, gambling expansion could negatively impact tourist traffic in the state and Disney wants as many tourist dollars coming their way as possible.

RIP Online Gambling Expansion

Not surprisingly, the passage of this measure has put to bed any realistic talk about online gambling expansion in the state. The subject of iGaming and online poker was not exactly a popular topic to begin with as live casinos did not want the competition and many older residents that include many of those that vote in the state, don’t have a real desire to see this form of expansion.

That’s not to say such a matter will not come up in the future, but odds are that the same groups that lobbied in support of Amendment 3 will also heavily influence the voting public to vote against online gambling expansion. Scare and fear mongering tactics like those used in the past to try and negatively influence lawmakers against online gambling would be likely to work with the general public who are generally more sensitive to these tactics.

A Setback for Gambling Expansion But a Gain for Voter Rights

Most of the gambling industry came out in opposition of this bill for largely personal reasons, but I am one of the few that actually supports the people having a say in the gambling expansion process. Too often, these matters are done exclusively by the government are only benefiting a small percentage of the general populace. Gambling expansion is something that has broad-ranging consequences both good and bad and is something that the voting public should have a say in.

While the result of Amendment 3 was obviously influenced by the Seminole Tribe, it is still the best result for the people of Florida. If they want the right to control the growth of gambling in their state, they should have it. Over time, attitudes will change and gambling expansion could become a viable option. For now though, it is not.