Hundreds of millions of dollars in legal sports betting revenue are flowing into Florida each year, but a growing shadow gambling economy is siphoning money away from the state and its taxpayers.
Attorney General James Uthmeier is working to rein it in. He’s also asking the state lawmakers to raise the stakes by steepening penalties.
A key objective for Uthmeier in 2026 is to address the rapid expansion of illegal and legally ambiguous gambling activities across the state, particularly as they intersect with the Seminole Tribe’s Gaming Compact.
While the Seminole Tribe’s legal, state-sanctioned sports betting platform, Hard Rock Bet, has generated hundreds of millions of dollars for Florida, a parallel and largely unregulated ecosystem has emerged with it.
