Hello and welcome to Wednesday.
Rolling — Goodbye Sin City…hello Sin State?
Show me the money — It appears that Gov. Ron DeSantis may have started something that he can’t stop — and it now could be joining him on the 2022 ballot. Sparked in part by his exclusive gambling deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida, tens of millions of dollars have now been set aside by casino companies and online betting firms eyeing massive gambling expansions on the land of theme parks and beaches.
Off and running — The two online betting companies, DraftKings and FanDuel, are behind a proposed citizen initiative that seeks to ask voters to scrap the Seminole monopoly on sports betting next year and open it to others. But other gambling companies — namely Las Vegas Sands — are putting together their own operation to try to place two additional gambling-related constitutional amendments on the 2022 ballot as well, according to amendment text obtained by the Florida Politics website. Those amendments appear aimed at bringing in casinos outside of the areas now served by the Seminole Tribe.
Did the governor know about this? — This still-nebulous campaign is very interesting of course because Las Vegas Sands has connections to DeSantis. Lobbyist Nick Iarossi, who has a long-running strong relationship with the governor, represented the company when it was previously trying to bring a casino to the state. The governor met with Miriam Adelson, widow of casino mogul and GOP…
