Texas and Florida Online Gambling Outlook 2026
Texas and Florida both stayed closed to broad online gambling expansion in 2026, but for different official reasons: Texas had no regular session, while Florida's SB 1164 died in committee rather than becoming law.
The Story
The two largest states without broad legal online casino markets both stayed closed in 2026, but the official reasons were different. Texas did not have a regular legislative session in 2026 at all, because the Legislature meets in regular session only in odd-numbered years. Florida did consider Senate Bill 1164, a proposal that would have defined and prohibited "Internet gambling" and "Internet sports wagering" in new statutory language, but the Florida Senate's own bill page shows that SB 1164 died in Regulated Industries on March 13, 2026. That means Florida did not create a new 2026 statutory ban through that bill, but it also did not open a broader online market.
The Background
Texas remains structurally hard to move quickly because the Legislature's regular sessions begin on the second Tuesday in January of odd-numbered years and last up to 140 days. In practical terms, that means Texas is not a normal 2026 legalization state unless the governor calls a special session and includes gambling on the call. Florida is different. Its current sports betting framework still runs through the 2021 Seminole compact ratified in Chapter 285 of the Florida Statutes and described in the Florida Senate's 2021A bill materials, which authorize sports betting in Florida exclusively by and through Seminole Tribe sports books. That is the operative state-sanctioned structure, not an open commercial model.
What It Means For Bettors
For Texas residents, the official position is basically unchanged in 2026: there is no broadly legal online sports betting market and no legal statewide iCasino framework, and any ordinary legislative reset belongs to 2027 unless a special session intervenes. For Florida residents, SB 1164's failure matters because some early coverage treated it as an active crackdown vehicle all the way through session. The official record is narrower: the bill was filed, referred, and then died in committee. Florida therefore exits the 2026 session with the Seminole compact framework still in place, rather than with a new standalone statute that rewrote internet gambling law.
What Happens Next
Texas remains a January 2027 story under the state's normal calendar. Florida remains a "new bill required" story. If lawmakers want to expand, restrict, or reframe internet gambling beyond the current Seminole compact structure, they will need a fresh proposal in a future session, because SB 1164 is dead for 2026. The careful bottom line is simple: Texas did not act, and Florida tried but did not pass the new restriction bill.