Florida Gaming Commission Chair: Legislators Must Step Up To Help Curb Illegal Gambling

SARASOTA, Fla. – As chair of the Florida Gaming Control Commission, Julie Brown knows that illegal gambling is always more readily available than the nearest Seminole Tribe casino to the more than 23 million Floridians.

These six casinos – two of them glimmering Hard Rock properties – offer the only Vegas-style gambling in Florida under the auspices of a 2021 compact between the Seminoles and the state. But as Brown prepared to deliver a keynote speech at the North American Gaming Regulators Association conference last week, she emphasized to Gambling Insider in an exclusive interview that legislators need to follow through on enacting tougher laws to allow the FGCC to continue to uproot illegal gambling operations that grow like weeds under the Florida sun.

They’re everywhere, in plain sight. Adult “arcades” brimming with illegal slot machines overtake unused storefronts in endless swathes of half-empty plazas. If raided, their proprietors move on and pop up elsewhere. 

And then there’s the illegal offshore websites. Advertisements for casino and lottery sites plaster social media feeds in the state, brazenly pirating Hard Rock and the Florida Lottery’s intellectual property, declaring that online casino gambling is finally legal in Florida – it’s not – and directing them clandestinely to servers based in the Caribbean.

A 2022 American Gaming Association report surmised that illegal operators raked $511 billion that year in the United States. The AGA pegged last year’s Florida figure at more than $4 billion in illegal online casino sites alone.

Brad Rhines, Miccosukee Casino & Resort general manager, said in a statement to patrons in 2025: “These fake advertisements are misleading and potentially harmful to consumers.  Protecting the integrity of our brand and the trust of our guests is a top priority. We want to be clear — Miccosukee Casino & Resort does not operate any online gambling platforms.”

With an estimated 48,000 unregulated gambling devices operating in Florida, Seminole Gaming chief operating officer David Hoenemeyer contacted customers in 2025 to “make [them] aware of extensive illegal gambling that is taking place in Florida. …

“You may have seen news reports,” the message continued, “about the proliferation of gaming arcades, or slot parlors, or internet cafes that have popped up in many parts of Florida. … They are all unlawful gambling operations, and they are a threat to everyone — not just the unsuspecting customers whom they attract.”

There were roughly 23,000 legal slots in Florida last year across Seminole and Miccosukee tribe properties and eight regulated pari-mutuel outlets.

The Dilemma of Charitable Halls 

While increased enforcement raids – like the cheekily entitled Operation Reel of Fortune – have at least temporarily shut down some retail arcades, state law, Brown contends, needs to buttress the effort. Nearly a half dozen bills focusing on strengthening gambling laws – including some that would have increased the penalty for operating illegal slots to a third-degree felony – stalled in either the House of Representatives or Senate, mostly, political experts say, because they involved too many facets of gambling in the state.

One of those, HB 189, advanced to two readings in the House, but faltered after several legislators voiced concerns in committee meetings about the potential impact on charitable halls, specifically veteran-affiliated ones, which would have required them to submit to inspections to determine if their machines were legal. While bill sponsors grapple with a way to allow charitable halls to generate funds crucial to communities, they remain cognizant of the financial heft of the Seminole Tribe – upwards of $750 million a year in revenue sharing – and the fact that observers consider these machines illegal under state law. 

“And you don’t want to treat different parties differently either, right?,” Brown pondered.

Even if they are decorated veterans and did great service for our country, you still don’t want to treat [them differently]. If they’re illegal machines, they’re illegal.”

Brown said the FGCC supported the proposed certification process.

“It would be costly, for each machine, but ultimately, our efforts were so focused on increasing criminal penalties, it was something we could live with,” Brown said.

Howard Glaser, the head of government affairs and legislative counsel at Light & Wonder, said states must balance upgrading enforcement and compliance while crafting laws that don’t adversely affect their regulated forms of gambling.

“Illegal gambling is widespread, it’s saturated, and it affects every element of the gaming sector. It affects the tribal casinos, commercial casinos, digital gaming that’s legal in some states, and charitable gaming,” he told Gambling Insider. 

Once so-called “skill” machines are placed in bars or convenience stores, they’re difficult to take out, Glaser said.

“You have the retail owners, shop owners who now have a machine in their store and they say, ‘We see a lot of revenue from this. Business has been very difficult for us, especially post-COVID. And we’re struggling to get the doors open. These machines are a source of revenue for us,’” Glaser described.

So local legislators try to stay away from the issue. Because they can make somebody unhappy. But the longer it goes on, the more that trust is eroded in the regulated gaming market.”

Brown: Everyone Plays a Part

Buy-in within local prosecutors is crucial, according to Brown, to give enforcement efforts real teeth.

“I would say the singular most important issue is the penalties are treated as misdemeanors, and not felonies, which is what we have been fighting for every legislative session, and we got very close this year,” Brown said. 

She added that the current legal landscape leads illegal operators to accept fines, misdemeanors and confiscated machines as cost of doing business. The criminal penalties stemming from Operation Reel of Fortune will not be commensurate with the crime, Brown explained, with more than 500 slots seized in nearly 50 locations.

A week before Brown spoke in Sarasota, county sheriffs and the FGCC seized 69 illegal slots and $62,376 in cash from two gambling parlors, one of which was across a street from the local tax collector.

“They’re going to get a slap on the wrist and move to another location,” she remarked.

Organized Crime Involved in Illegal Gambling in Sunshine State

At a National Council of Legislators from Gaming States conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico in December, organization general counsel and former Florida state senator Steven Geller said much of the illegal gambling in the state is orchestrated by Eastern European mafia elements. Brown described the operators as a “spectrum of bad actors” that are also involved in money laundering and illegal weapons. 

At least one bad actor was working in law enforcement. Now-suspended Osceola County sheriff Marcos Lopez faces racketeering charges for his alleged role in running an illegal gambling ring that generated more than $21.6 million, according to the Florida Attorney General’s office.

Last July, the FGCC and Sumter County law enforcement shut down the Il Villagio Senior Center gambling hall near the sprawling Villages enclave that had done nearly $25 million in business over two years. 

“We have to not only have relationships with local law enforcement to make coordinated efforts and dedication, but [also] with the local prosecutors so that they understand it’s worth the wait going after, even if it is a misdemeanor,” Brown asserted. “We’re being creative. We’re already working on next session, and really focusing on not having anything watered down. Focusing only on increasing penalties is the strategy.”

Digital Invasions Growing While Virtual Efforts Continue

The FGCC received funding this year to create enforcement squads in Jacksonville and Sarasota. Those are actual boots on actual ground. A second line of defense is formed by tech. The FGCC, Brown maintains, must remain vigilant for the inevitable next one.

“Illegal operators are getting much more sophisticated. Just like the products are advancing, technology’s advancing and the regulatory market has to advance,” Brown said.

I think we’re in such a unique position, the way that [the state] created us and combined regulatory and law enforcement in the same commission. So we are trying to stay abreast and also trying to change the laws. We have a lot of different tasks that have to be met in order to stay on top of it.”