Florida Committee Advances Comprehensive Gambling Bill To House Floor

An omnibus bill that would impact multiple facets of gambling in Florida, including hardening penalties for running illegal slot machine operations, internet gambling sites, and involvement in sports betting corruption, advanced through its third committee in the Florida House on Tuesday to earn a floor vote.

HB 189, sponsored by Fort Pierce Republican Rep. Dana Trabulsy, passed through the Commerce Committee with an 18-5 vote.

A floor vote has not yet been scheduled. The Florida legislative session ends on March 13. 

Key points of HB 189:

• Defines “Internet gambling” as playing or engaging “in any game in which money or other thing of value is awarded based on chance, regardless of any application of skill, that is available on the Internet and accessible on a mobile device, computer terminal, or other similar access device and simulates casino-style gaming, including, but not limited to, slot machines, video poker, and table games.” This would seemingly apply to both offshore websites and sweepstakes casinos.
• Expands criminal penalties for illegal gambling to a third-degree felony
• Strengthens oversight and ethics requirements applicable to the Florida Gaming Control Commission
• Tightens licensing and ownership disclosure standards
• Revises a previous version of the bill to allow local municipalities to enact their own gambling laws
• Legalizes fantasy sports contests
• Prohibits Florida Gaming Control Commission members from accepting certain gambling-related jobs within a given timeframe
• Removes ownership interest thresholds for changes of ownership in pari-mutuel permits

Trabulsy, who quipped while testifying on Tuesday that she’d lost about $600 researching illegal gambling, cited ancillary crime reduction and maintaining fidelity with the 2021 compact the state signed with the Seminole Tribe of Florida — granting it a monopoly on sports betting and casino-style gambling — as further reasons for passage.

“The Seminole Tribe paid the state of Florida, over the course of five years, $2.5 billion,” she said of a revenue share agreement with the state. “And when we have illegal activity happening where taxes are not being paid to the state, it’s just an unfair playing field, and it’s unintended.”

HB 189 path to House vote

Tuesday marked the third successful advancement for the bill. It passed out of the Criminal Justice Subcommittee on Jan. 14 after a lengthy discussion on the impact it could have on veterans organizations that offer slot machines that they deem “amusement games.” HB 189 would allow for these organizations to apply for Florida Gaming Control Commission certification.

Much of the discourse Tuesday was supportive of a strengthening of gambling laws from commission members who professed a long commitment to the cause, but had failed to craft something like HB 189.

The bill was successfully reported out of the Industries & Professional Activities Subcommittee on Nov. 25, 2025.