Chuck Floyd had never bet on a sporting event in his life until he walked under a white canopy tent Monday, pulled out his phone and put $10 on fellow Virginian Denny Hamlin to win the Daytona 500.
Floyd’s play would have seemed unthinkable a decade ago but represents another step in the ongoing evolution of Florida sports betting: He was placing a legal wager inside Daytona International Speedway, where Hamlin and his NASCAR colleagues would soon be competing in one of the state’s biggest sporting events.
“Why not bring it to the masses?” Floyd asked.
That question is legally complicated. The courts haven’t fully resolved the 30-year compact Gov. Ron DeSantis made to grant the Seminole Tribe a virtual monopoly on mobile sports betting.
