Gambling In Florida

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Florida Casinos & Lottery

Casino Cruises

Florida has not legalized land-based casino gambling, but it does allow day cruises which provide gamblers with the opportunity to board floating casino ships where gambling is legal off-shore.

There are several on-shore Native Indian casinos that generate funds for their local community and which operate without formal state sanction.

Most of the ships sailing from major Florida ports will add port/service charges to the cruise price. Car parking is usually available at those locations for an additional cost.

Since 1995 smaller ships have begun entering the gambling cruise market. As they can bypass the major port facilities, many can offer lower cruise prices and most offer free car parking. Special offers are commonplace and visitors may find lower cruise prices than the published brochure rates.

The cruise ships offer slot machines, video poker, caribbean stud poker, craps, blackjack and roulette. Some also offer baccarat, mini-baccarat, sportsbook, poker, pai gow poker and bingo. Each vessel sets its own minimum gambling age, either 18 or 21, and the minimum drinking age on all vessels is 21.

The on-land Indian casinos normally offer high-stakes bingo, video pull tabs, and poker games. All are normally open 24 hours and the minimum gambling age is 18.

The Florida Lottery

The income raised by the Florida Lottery is used for the enhancement of public education in Florida. It is both a committed partner in Florida education and an outstanding success as a business enterprise. In 2004-2005, the Florida Lottery transferred more than $1 billion to the Education Enhancement Trust Fund and total contributions since start-up exceed $15 billion.

Lottery draws take place at 11:00pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays and prizes must be claimed within 180 days of the draw date. Lottery prize monies are subject to taxation at time of payout.

There are several lottery games, namely:

Lotto
Select the 6 winning numbers between 1 and 53 on a playslip. Each play costs $1.00. Prize amounts typically total $3m or more with jackpots. Lesser prizes are paid for games that match three, four or five of the winning numbers.

Mega Money
Select the four winning numbers from 1 through 44 on a playslip PLUS one MEGABALL number from 1 through 22. Each play costs $1.00. Prize amounts typically total $2m or more with jackpots. Smaller prizes are paid for games with lesser matching numbers.

Fantasy 5
Select the 5 winning numbers between 1 and 36 on a playslip. Each play costs $1.00. Prize amounts typically total $100,000 or more with jackpots. Lesser prizes are paid for games that match three or four of the winning numbers.

There are other lottery games such as Play 4 and Cash 3 that are available on a daily basis with the draws taking place each evening. These involve lower payouts than the 3 major lottery games described above. Instant scratch cards are also available ranging in price from $1 up to $20.

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