Any chance Florida daily fantasy sports legalization had for this session is officially out the window.

The Florida Senate did not call daily fantasy sports (DFS) legislation to the floor yesterday and has no plans to do so today. Tomorrow is sine die for the 2024 session and the bills will not be discussed.

After quite a bit of buzz surrounding DFS this year, Florida lawmakers have officially closed the door on its chances and DFS proponents will have to wait until 2025 for discussions to start up again.

Senate DFS bill fizzles out

Sen. Travis Hutson (R-7) introduced SB 1568 in January to regulate DFS in the state through the Florida Gaming Control Commission.

The Fantasy Sports Contest Amusement Act will only allow peer-to-peer games and traditional draft competitions. It specifically prohibits the “contest operators from being a contest participant in a fantasy sports contest that the contest operator offers.”

The bill would have established a $500,000 initial license application and $250,000 renewal fees for license.

After being approved 18-0 in a fiscal policy committee in mid-February, it remained on a special order calendar in the Senate. There were rumblings this week that the bill was scheduled to be discussed on the Senate floor, but those never came to fruition.

Today is the final day of discussion in state’s 2024 legislative session. The bill is not schedule to be discussed or voted on and will die in the Senate.

A House DFS bill (HB 7081) also was introduced in late February but never moved out of committee.

Florida’s uncertain DFS landscape

So where does that leave daily fantasy sports in Florida? Still considered a gray game in the Sunshine State, operators will continue offering certain games as long as the Florida Gaming Control Commission does not crackdown on the competitions.

DraftKings, FanDuel, and Underdog Fantasy all still offer DFS games in the state, but only traditional draft competitions. The Florida Gaming Control Commission recently turned its eye to pick’em competitions and ordered operators to cease the games.

The commission sent cease-and-desist letters to Betr, PrizePicks, and Underdog Fantasy, asking all three operators to stop “offering or accepting illegal bets or wagers from [Florida] residents” and “conducting any illegal lotteries” within 30 days of Jan. 31.

The letters, signed by Florida Gaming Control Commission Executive Director Louis Trombetta, notified the operators that if the games were not discontinued in the state during the 30-day timeframe, the matter would be referred to the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution.

“If this cessation is completed within that timeframe, the Commission will deem the company and all its officials, directors, and employees have complied with the demands of the cease-and-desist order, and the Commission will not take further action, including referral to the Office of Statewide Prosecution or to any State Attorney.”

All three have pulled the pick’em games from the state.

Without DFS regulations or a DFS bill, there is no clear cut future for fantasy games or a DFS revenue stream for the state.