Florida's top gambling regulator became a FanDuel lobbyist. A bill would bar a repeat
As Florida's first gambling regulator, Louis Trombetta took an aggressive approach to fantasy sports betting, driving three upstart companies to shut down their games in the state.
Then he went to work for one of their competitors.
The sudden about-face has raised questions by ethics experts about the revolving door between regulators and the industry – a door one state lawmaker wants to shut behind Trombetta.
A House Republican's bill would close a loophole that allowed Trombetta to accept a job with FanDuel — one of North America's biggest fantasy-sports and betting companies — while working as the Florida Gaming Control Commission's top regulator. HB 1467 would expand the state's lobbying ban to explicitly state that Florida's gambling regulator cannot work for fantasy sports companies for two years after leaving the post.
Rep. John Snyder, a Palm City Republican, said his bill — which would also more formally legalize and regulate fantasy sports in Florida — wasn't necessarily in reaction to Trombetta's move. Instead, it was about 'fairness in the marketplace.'
'Any time you have a regulator in a position to make significant decisions on the industry, I think it's important they sit on the bench for a little bit before they get back into it,' Snyder said.
Trombetta did not respond to a request for comment. FanDuel noted that Trombetta took steps to eliminate his access to sensitive regulatory data after accepting an offer to work for the company, and said that they are not regulated by the Florida Gaming Control Commission because the games they offer in Florida are not considered gambling.
'FanDuel is not a sports betting or iGaming license holder in the state of Florida and is not subject to regulatory oversight by the Florida Gaming Control Commission,' a company spokesperson said in a statement. They added that 'FanDuel has no comment on the regulatory actions the state of Florida may have taken involving other companies.'
Trombetta, a gambling lawyer, was chosen as Florida's first executive director of the state's new Gaming Control Commission in March 2022. The Commission was created to enforce gambling laws and restrictions in Florida after Gov. Ron DeSantis' new agreement with the Seminole Tribe — called a compact — giving the Tribe exclusive rights to offer sports betting in Florida.
That compact had a carveout for fantasy sports 'contests,' a rapidly-evolving industry that has rivaled sports betting in popularity. Unlike sports betting, in which a player bets on the outcome of a game against the casino, fantasy sports players have traditionally competed with each other to pick the best-performing roster of athletes in any particular sport over a period of time.
Because of that difference, fantasy sports — which according to one study is projected to grow to $59.63 billion by 2029, in part due to its 'enhanced user engagement features' and 'gamification' — has been described as a game of skill, like poker, instead of luck.
But the fantasy sports industry has changed dramatically as states across the country legalize gambling. Fantasy platforms started allowing players to bet on multiple game outcomes and players' performances at the same time — similar to sports parlays offered at casinos. And if the players lose, the platform keeps the money, much like a casino.
A spokesperson for the Seminole Tribe told the Herald/Times these new games were encroaching on their exclusive gambling agreement with the state. The compact generally gives the Tribe exclusive rights over casino-style games where the 'house' backs the games and wins a profit from them.
Trombetta targeted three companies that began offering those casino-like games in Florida: PrizePicks, Underdog, and Betr. But he didn't make a distinction between them and the traditional fantasy contests in the cease-and-desist letters he issued in 2023. Rather, he told the companies that any and all fantasy gaming outside of the compact was illegal and threatened them with jail time.
'Under Florida law, betting or wagering on the result of contests of skill, such as sports betting, including fantasy sports betting, is strictly prohibited and constitutes a felony offense unless such activity is otherwise exempted by statute,' Trombetta wrote in the letters.
Florida gambling and ethics expert Bob Jarvis similarly said all fantasy sports betting is illegal in Florida.
'Florida is one of the few jurisdictions that says that betting on a game, even if it is a game that involves skill (as opposed to chance), is illegal,' Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, wrote in an email.
Trombetta never sent cease and desist letters to the two giants in the sports betting industry: FanDuel and DraftKings. Both companies offer fantasy sports betting in Florida, although not the parlay-style system offered by the three upstarts. There is no evidence to suggest the Gaming Commission intends to take action to shut down any of the fantasy games currently offered in Florida, though the Commission's own website suggests the games operate in a legal gray area.
Trombetta — whose position afforded him access to confidential data, criminal investigative information and trade secrets — resigned from the gaming commission in December 2024 and went to lobby for FanDuel later that month as their director of government relations.
His decision not to send letters to FanDuel and DraftKings raised eyebrows at the time. Three days after receiving his company's cease and desist letter, Underdog Founder and CEO Jeremy Levine pointed out the inconsistency on the platform X. He posted emails showing his general counsel followed up with the commission, which reiterated that all paid fantasy contests were illegal.
The Florida Gaming Control Commission did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Sen. Joe Gruters, a Sarasota Republican, also wrote to Trombetta in 2023 asking why the two largest fantasy sports operators were excluded from the commission's enforcement.
'I am concerned that the Commission is applying an interpretation that is not supported by law and that the Commission may be selectively enforcing its interpretation,' Gruters wrote.
Gruters said he later spoke to Trombetta, who assured him that cease-and-desist letters would also be sent to DraftKings and FanDuel, News Service of Florida reported at the time. Those letters were never sent. Gruters told the Herald/Times last week that he wasn't aware that Trombetta had taken a job lobbying for FanDuel. He wasn't surprised.
'Makes sense,' Gruters said.
The FanDuel spokesperson said a 'publicly posted search' led to Trombetta's hiring, and said he voluntarily filed a public disclosure on Nov. 15 transferring the responsibility for managing confidential information to a deputy director, 'eliminating any potential concerns about the important ongoing work of the Commission.'
After Trombetta's cease-and-desist letters, PrizePicks, Underdog and Betr stopped offering their more innovative parlay games. They restarted their platforms to offer more traditional fantasy sports betting similar to FanDuel and DraftKings.
Trombetta's move 'raises long-troubling issues with respect to potential conflicts of interest, risks of regulatory capture, and opportunities to misuse a public position to secure personal benefit,' Michael Klein, an ethics and law expert at the University of Miami School of Law, wrote in an email.
But Jarvis, the gambling law and ethics expert, said he was not surprised or even bothered by Trombetta's quick move to FanDuel. The new Florida gaming commission is going through common 'growing pains.'
'Does this look bad? Yeah, it looks bad,' said Jarvis in an interview. 'But is this shocking? Is it surprising? Is it the first time it's ever happened? No, no and no.'
He added: 'Maybe I'm just too jaded because I've seen this so many times.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
44 minutes ago
- New York Post
Suffolk jails forced to hold 125 prisoners set for transfer because of state chaos
Suffolk County's jails are being forced to hold onto 125 felons who were supposed to be transferred upstate — with officials blaming state government chaos for the delay, The Post has learned. County Executive Ed Romaine blamed Gov. Kathy Hochul and said housing a growing number of state prisoners is putting staff in a dangerous situation as taxpayers are on the hook for hundreds of thousands in estimated extra costs. 'They've been convicted and are supposed to be in state prisons and they're not because the state is just not taking them,' Romaine told The Post. Advertisement 'Now, why is the state not taking them?' the Republican added. 'Well, [Hochul] fired 2,000 corrections officers striking for better working conditions and she's closing prisons around the state.' 4 Suffolk County's jails are being forced to hold onto 125 felons who were supposed to be transferred upstate. New York Post Under state law, inmates sentenced to hard time in state prison are supposed to be transferred upstate within 10 business days. But Romaine said that has changed in the aftermath of labor unrest with the corrections officer union and Democratic governor. Advertisement He said the delays are now causing headaches across the system, from administration to the inmates themselves. Most of the detainees in the two county jails — in Riverhead and Yaphank — are people accused of low-level crimes that are being held for trial and have not been convicted. They are now bunking alongside convicted criminals who were intended to only pass through the system. 4 Under state law, inmates sentenced to hard time in state prison are supposed to be transferred upstate within 10 business days. Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine pictured. James Messerschmidt Romaine added that the influx of roughly 125 felons is raising serious safety and management concerns for staff. Advertisement 'Our jail staff are already spread thin,' Romaine wrote in a letter to Gov. Hochul in May obtained by The Post. 'I understand that the state faces similar staffing challenges, but it is unfair to shift this burden to the County with minimal financial compensation and little to no collaboration.' The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision blamed the backlog on system-halting staffing shortages that were sparked after the state fired 2,000 corrections officers who participated in an unauthorized, nearly month-long strike in March. 4 Romaine added that the influx of roughly 125 felons is raising serious safety and management concerns for staff. Newsday via Getty Images Romaine shot back that the staffing shortages should be Suffolk's problem. Advertisement 'The law says they're state ready, then they need to be in state prisons, not local jails,' he said. New York State is reimbursing Suffolk $100 per day for every inmate stuck in the county jails, but Romaine said the county pays $250 per day for each, meaning taxpayers are on the hook for the extra $150. 'The warden and his staff calculate that we have expended approximately $280,000 in excess of what we have received from the state to house these state ready but unclaimed prisoners since February,' Romaine wrote in the May letter. 4 New York State is reimbursing Suffolk $100 per day for every inmate stuck in the county jails. New York Post More inmates in lockup means more guards are needed to work — with more overtime costs, he added. Romaine warned that if the backlog continues, it could lead to dangerous overcrowding and unravel the work the county has been doing to improve jail conditions. 'This is unsustainable long term,' he said.
Epoch Times
an hour ago
- Epoch Times
Speaker Johnson Downplays Musk's Influence, Suggests Republicans Will Pass Budget Bill
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on June 8 downplayed tech billionaire Elon Musk's critical comments and said that House Republicans will pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act backed by President Donald Trump. Last week, Musk and Trump got into a heated back and forth after the Tesla CEO repeatedly bashed the spending bill on social media. Trump suggested that it was because of its cuts to electric vehicle mandates, and at one point floated cutting federal money to Musk's companies. Meanwhile, Musk took credit for Trump and the GOP winning the 2024 election and threatened to decommission SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft.
Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Los Angeles Times
National guard arrives in Los Angeles as fallout from immigration raids continues
California National Guard troops arrived in Los Angeles on Sunday in a show of force following scattered clashes between immigration agents and protesters and amid a widening political divide between California and the Trump Administration. The move by President Donald Trump to activate nearly 2,000 guardsmen marked the first time since 1965 that a president has deployed a state's National Guard without a request from that state's governor. The decision was met with stern rebukes from state and local officials, including Gov. Gavin Newsom who said the deployment was 'not to meet an unmet need, but to manufacture a crisis.' On Sunday afternoon, there were tense moments outside a federal detention center in downtown L.A., with National Guard troops firing tear gas and non-lethal rounds at protesters. But other areas that had seen unrest over the last few days, including the Garment District, Paramount and Compton, seemed calm. It was unclear exactly how many troops were deployed to Los Angeles as of Sunday afternoon. The National Guard's 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, based in San Diego, said Sunday that 300 personnel were on the ground to protect federal property and personnel. Trump administration officials have seized on the isolated incidents of violence to suggest wide parts of L.A. are out of control. On Sunday, Trump took to social media to claim 'violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking' federal law enforcement. 'A once great American City, Los Angeles, has been invaded and occupied by Illegal Aliens and Criminals,' he wrote, blaming Democratic politicians for not cracking down earlier. While officials have not said how long the immigration enforcement actions will continue, Trump told reporter Sunday 'we're going to have troops everywhere. We're not going to let this happen to our country.' Many California officials, who have long been at odds with Trump, say the president was trying to exploit the situation for his political advantage and sow unneeded disorder and confusion. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the deployment of federalized troops a 'chaotic escalation' and issued a reminder that 'Los Angeles will always stand with everyone who calls our city home.' While most demonstrators have gathered peacefully, some have hurled objects at law enforcement personnel, set garbage and vehicles on fire and defaced federal property with graffiti. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Los Angeles over the past week has resulted in the arrest of 118 people including some who have been convicted of drug trafficking, assault, child cruelty, domestic violence and robbery, according to the agency. Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin and Republican politicians who support Trump's immigration actions have characterized the protests as riots intended to 'keep rapists, murderers, and other violent criminals loose on Los Angeles streets.' On Sunday morning, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) addressed roughly two dozen National Guard soldiers posted outside the Metropolitan Detention Center on Alameda Street. She had arrived at the center to inquire about Service Employees International Union California President David Huerta, who was injured and detained while documenting an immigration enforcement raid in downtown Los Angeles on Friday. 'Who are you going to shoot?' Waters asked the solders. 'If you're going to shoot me, you better shoot straight.' Remnants of tear gas used by law enforcement during protests Saturday lingered in the air around the building, at times forcing Waters to cough. Waters, an outspoken critic of the president, called the deployment of National Guard troops an unnecessary escalation of tensions and accused Trump of 'trying to make an example' out of Los Angeles, a longstanding sanctuary city. Leonard Tunstad, a 69-year-old Los Angeles resident, rode his bike up to the edge of the loading dock where guardsmen were stationed and asked them if they really wanted to be loyal to a president that 'had 34 felony convictions.' He said he felt compelled to shout facts about Trump at the guardsmen because he feared the young men have been 'indoctrinated against their own citizens.' Tunstad said he believed the deployment was a gross overreaction by the Trump administration, noting the city has been home to far more raucous protests that were handled by local police. 'This is just a show. This is just a spectacle,' he said. A Department of Homeland Security officer approached one of the louder demonstrators saying that he 'didn't want a repeat of last night' and didn't want to 'get political.' He told protesters as long as they stick to the sidewalk and don't block vehicle access to the loading dock there wouldn't be any problems. Later, DHS and California National Guard troops shoved dozens of protesters into Alameda Street, hitting people with riot shields, firing pellets into the ground and deploying tear gas to clear a path for a caravan of DHS, Border Patrol and military vehicles to enter the detention center. Jose Longoria struggled to breathe as clouds of tear gas filled Alameda Street. He pointed to a white scuff mark on his shoe, saying that a tear gas canister had hit him in the foot, causing him to limp slightly. 'We're not armed. We're just peacefully protesting. They're acting out,' Longoria said of the officers. Julie Solis, 50, walked back and forth along Alameda Street holding a Mexican flag and urging the crowd to make their voices heard, but to keep the scene peaceful. She said she believes the National Guard was deployed solely to provoke a response and make Los Angeles look unruly to justify further aggression from federal law enforcement. 'They want arrests. They want to see us fail. We need to be peaceful. We need to be eloquent,' she said. National Guard troops were last summoned to Los Angeles and other Southern California cities in 2020, during the George Floyd protests. Those deployments were authorized by Newsom. However, the last time the National Guard was called on by a president without a request from a state governor was 60 years ago when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to Alabama to protect civil rights demonstrators. Antonio Villaraigosa, former Speaker of the California Assembly and a former LA mayor, said Trump's move was 'meant to incite more fear and chaos in our community.' 'Trump's military-style mass deportation ICE raids in California have gone too far, tearing families apart and threatening public safety,' he said in a statement. 'The raids at stores and workplaces are wrong, just as it's wrong to separate families with raids at schools, graduations, and churches.' In Paramount, a group of camouflaged National Guard troops were stationed in a business park with armored vehicles where a Department of Homeland Security office is located. Jessica Juarez walked along Alondra Boulevard with a trash bag full of spent tear gas canisters on Sunday morning. Her voice grew hoarse as she helped a group of volunteers clean up after clashes between protesters and law enforcement the day before. An acrid odor still hung in the air from the gas and flash bang grenades law enforcement fired on protesters Saturday, while scorched asphalt marked the intersection outside a Home Depot where federal authorities had staged. 'I'm proud of our community, of the strength we showed,' said Juarez, 40. 'It's like they put so much fear into Paramount and for what? These guys didn't even clean up after themselves.' The images of Paramount shrouded in smoke and flanked by police in riot gear are unusual for this community of about 50,000 residents. In many ways, the city became the starting point for the escalating federal response. 'What else do you call it but an attack on Paramount and the people who live here?' Resident and union organizer Alejandro Maldonado said. 'People in the community were standing up to unjust immigration policies.' For some, the fight between Los Angeles residents and the federal government is akin to David and Goliath. 'It really does seem like they wanted to pick a fight with the little guy,' Union organizer Ardelia Aldridge said. Staff writer Seema Mehta contributed to this report
