Florida may be home to some great tribal casinos and other gambling opportunities, but it is still yet to clearly define the legality of Daily Fantasy Sports. This has caused some to avoid competing and others to continue, as DFS operators are still remaining active in Florida despite the risk of breaking the law. If you’re looking to start your fantasy drafting career in Florida, we recommend you read on first.

Todd Winkler, Editor at online-gambling.com

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Todd Winkler has been an editor at online-gambling.com for 6 years. His focus is on guides and articles about poker games, blackjack, and DFS. With relatives in New Zealand, he is also well aware of the gambling industry in the country.

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Daily Fantasy in Florida

Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) exist in a legal grey area in the state of Florida. Since the early ’90s, there have been varying opinions on whether or not DFS would be illegal according to the state’s definition of gambling. Even in 2015, an attorney in the state threatened to call together a jury to investigate the activities of DFS operators if they were not to leave, but nothing was to come of the threat. For now, players can choose to play on either FanDuels or DraftKings DFS platforms, though be aware that because of it’s uncertain legality, you may be breaking the law.

Online Daily Fantasy Sports in Delaware – Overview

Currently, both DraftKings and FanDuel are still open for business in the state, yet they do this at their own risk. While DFS is yet to be defined as illegal, it is still not entirely known to be legal, so playing is a dicey choice. There have been moves to make DFS legal in the government, but before this happens, lawmakers will have to compromise with local native tribes whose monopoly on the state’s casino industry may be affected if DFS is legalized.

Despite the lack of legal certainty on the activity, this hasn’t stopped Florida’s residents from signing up to build their fantasy draft teams across a number of leagues. Florida is home to many professional leagues, so it makes sense why the sports-crazed states wouldn’t want to miss out on the fun.

Below, we’ve listed some of the most popular sports leagues in Florida and how they are played on DFS.

Online Daily Fantasy NFL – A Dolphins Lovers Dream

Fans of the 2-time winning Super Bowl champions the Miami Dolphins are going to love getting in on the daily fantasy action. In the popular NFL Fantasy League, contestants are asked to build a team of 9 NFL players and battle it out with their opponent’s teams. Points are scored based on their real-life performance of players.

Online Daily Fantasy NBA – Feel The Heat!

With Florida being the home to the 3-time championship winning team the Miami Heat, the NBA Fantasy League is bound to attract some fans from the state. In the NBA DFS League, contestants are to create a lineup of 8 players that will be playing in at least two separate NBA games that week. Scoring is based on real-life gameplay statistics e.g. 1 point for every point scored, 2 points for a block.

Online Daily Fantasy MLB – The Marlins School The Rest

The Miami Marlins are the only team to win both championships they qualified for during the postseason elimination round. Now fans can continue this winning streak by drafting their favorite Marlin’s players in their MLB fantasy lineup. By building a team of 10 players with no more than 5 hitters, contestants can score points in many different ways, with 5 points for stealing bases, 10 points given for a home run, 2 points for strikeout, etc.

Online Daily Fantasy NHL – Lightning Strike To Victory

The Tampa Bay Lightning Bolts, or the Bolts as most fans call them, are an important fixture in the National Hockey League. The NHL Fantasy League asks contestants to draft teams of 9 players, awarding them points for players goals, assists, and blocked shots, with goalies also earning more points for successful gameplay. The team recently won the President’s Trophy, so expect to see a lot of names from the Bolts popping up in opponent’s lineups.

College Fantasy Sport – something catchy

If you are a fan of college sports, then you’ll be very aware of the University of Florida’s legendary Florida Gators collegiate athletics program. The Gators hold the distinction of being the only team to ever win both the basketball and football championships back in the 2006-2007 season, with the football team also holding more victories than any other program in the Football Super Bowl subdivision.

It’s for this reason that their football team is highlighted as one of the most successful in college football. With 42 NFL first-round draft choices and three Heisman Trophy winners being former players for the Gators, it’s no wonder why Florida’s residents adore their Gators so much. Just like any other DFS league betting, drafting college leagues may not be legal in Florida. In saying that, if you’re going to draft a team of players from around the country into your team, you’d be mad to overlook the best of the Gators.

Timeline of Daily Fantasy Sports Legislation

Gambling laws in Florida tend to be inconsistent. While the consequences of being caught gambling illegally can be harsh, players still have a number of options to choose if they want to gamble. There are a number of Native American casinos on reservations that offer the full gambling experience with slot machines, table games and more, lottery and bingo are allowed and so is horse racing.

In saying that, the state is quite clear on its opposition to online gambling of all sorts as well as sports betting. Because of new changes to voting laws that require all new changes to gambling laws to be approved by citizens in referendums, it looks as though amendments to both sports betting laws and DFS laws may take some time. Despite this, some believe that authorities will turn a blind eye to DFS playing, for the time being, choosing to consider it a game of skill as opposed to a game of chance.

Below is a table of important years in Florida’s gambling history. For more information on gambling in the state, visit our dedicated Florida gambling page.

Legal Daily Fantasy Betting Age in Florida

Because DFS is not technically legal in Florida, there isn’t a legal gambling age for players. Despite this, DFS operators only allow players that are 18 years and older, while Florida only allows players who are over 18 to participate in the state lottery and 21 years old to gamble at casinos. If a player is caught gambling underage, it is considered a misdemeanor and is punishable with no longer than 60 days in prison or a fine of $500.

• DFS Betting Age
  Players must be over 18 years old to play on DFS Sites in Florida. However, it may be illegal.
• Alcohol Age
  The legal drinking age in Florida is 21 years old.
• Weed Age
  Recreational smoking of cannabis is still illegal in Florida.

Is Daily Fantasy Betting Legal Outside of the State?

Daily Fantasy League betting is legal in most states in the USA, with only nine states yet to legalize it – including Florida. THree of the states that are expected to legalize DFS soon are Hawaii, Georgia, Idaho. Some of these states, like Georgia, are yet to confirm that DFS are not a game of chance but rather a game of skill, while others, like Florida, are bogged down by tricky legislative hurdles that may not be resolved for some years. There are even a couple of states that find gambling to be a vice, plain and simple, and are showing no intent of making it legal to gamble in the near future. If you want to spare yourself all the hassle of searching for a state where this type of betting is legal, go check our dedicated Ohio daily fantasy betting page.

The Best Fantasy Sports App in Florida

Are you more of a mobile phone user than a laptop or PC user? Then there’s nothing to fret about – you can still enjoy all the best features of DFS gameplay! Most major DFS websites have either created mobile apps or have developed websites that are fully mobile optimized. This allows you to make drafts and bets while you’re out and about, without the hassle of loading up your laptop. This is the most convenient way to play, so we recommend downloading an app today. Based on our experience, we suggest downloading the DraftKings app for DFS betting due to its ease of use and speed.

Taxes on Daily Fantasy Winnings: Legal Overview

Your winnings from DFS are subject tofederal taxes in Florida. Gambling winnings are fully taxable at a rate of 25% for federal taxes, and state taxes consider gambling winnings to be classed as income and are taxed accordingly to residents’ tax classes. For more info, visit the website of the IRS or the Florida Department of Revenue.

Upcoming Regulation Changes to Be Aware Of

There has yet to be any new DFS regulation changes to be announced in Florida, although many speculators believe that if they are to happen, they won’t be happening until 2020 at the earliest. Because of the new state-voted Amendment that requires all new gambling legislation to be considered by a statewide referendum, it will take time for lawmakers to draft these referendums and pose questions about the legality of casino gambling and DFS responsibly to constituents.

While there’s no news of changes to online betting, sports betting or DFS gambling in the state, Florida is looking to shut down its greyhound racing operations citing concerns of animal cruelty. Although this is a progressive move, hopefully voters will be as equally progressive in considering that DFS betting is a game of skill and not a game of chance.

Daily Fantasy Guides for Nearby States

• Alabama
• Georgia
• Mississippi
• Tennessee