The initiative will need 891,589 valid petition signatures to get a ballot initiative slot to threaten the Seminole mobile betting monopoly.
“Florida Education Champions is a political committee formed for the purpose of securing petitions in order to place an amendment on the November 2022 general election ballot. Specifically, this amendment authorizes sports and event betting at professional sports venues, pari-mutuel facilities, and statewide via online sports betting platforms, and if betting revenues are taxed, taxes must supplement the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund,” the committee said.
“The Florida Division of Elections just approved the committee’s request to be assigned an official serial number for ballot placement, so we may immediately begin the petition collection process and thereby initiate efforts to generate substantial revenue that can be directed to Florida’s public education system — without raising taxes,” it added.
The Florida Education Champions proposed amendment ballot would ‘authorise sports and event betting under Florida law at professional sports venues and pari-mutuel facilities and statewide via online sports betting platforms by entities authorized to conduct online sports betting, and by Native American tribes with a Florida gaming compact, only for persons age 21 years or older. Requires legislative action to regulate sports betting. The legislature may tax betting revenues, and all such taxes are required to supplement the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund.’
The Seminole Tribe of Florida responded: “This is a political Hail Mary from out-of-state corporations trying to interfere with the business of the people of Florida. They couldn’t stop Florida’s new Gaming Compact, which passed by an overwhelming 88% ‘yes’ vote from Florida’s elected legislators and enjoys 3-1 support from Floridians and guarantees $2.5bn in revenue sharing. The guarantee is the largest commitment by any gaming company in U.S. history,” said Gary Bitner, a spokesperson for Seminole Gaming.
Source: G3 Newswire
