Mobile Florida Sports Betting Launches Earlier Than Expected

• Florida residents can now place wagers with their phones on the Hard Rock Sportsbook app.
• The court hearing about sports betting will take place on November 5.
• John Sowinski is confident that his lawsuit will be successful, and app may have to cease.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida residents were treated to a surprise sports betting launch, when the Seminole Tribe released their Hard Rock Sportsbook mobile sports betting app.

Early Mobile Sports Betting Launch

On Monday, the Seminoles’ Hard Rock Sportsbook app was made available to all Florida citizens ready to start placing bets.

Now Florida residents can use their smartphones to download the Hard Rock sportsbooks app, and start placing sports wagers from anywhere in FL. This marks the first time a state-regulated Florida sportsbook has taken a legal sports bet from citizens.

This happened just days before a scheduled court hearing on November 5 where the validity of the recent gaming compact would be deliberated.

President of No Casinos, John Sowinski thinks this early launch may be short-lived.

“It’s a little ironic, since this goes to court on Friday,” said Sowinski “I’m very confident we’ll win on the merits. I look forward to Friday.”

Pending Lawsuits

October 15 was the official date that Florida casinos were legally allowed to launch retail sportsbooks, but mobile sports betting apps were not supposed to go live until November 15.

Various lawsuits were in place in an attempt to invalidate the gaming compact, with some claiming that the compact itself was “fiction.”

“Through this fiction, the compact and implementing law seek to expand sports betting outside of Indian lands to individuals located anywhere in Florida so long as they have a computer and internet connection — subject only to the tribe’s monopoly,” said the lawyers for one the parimutuels in a 43-page lawsuit against the gaming compact.

The future of online legal Florida sports betting hinges on the outcome of the court hearing on November 5.

News tags: Florida | Hard Rock Sportsbook | John Sowinski | No Casinos | Seminoles