TALHASSEE – As Florida’s first gambling regulator, Luit Trombotta took a proactive approach to fantasy sports betting, urging three startups to close games in the state.
He then went to work for one of their competitors.
On the sudden side, ethics experts have raised questions about the revolving door between regulators and the industry.
The House Republican bill would close a loophole that would allow Trombotta to accept work with Fan Duel, one of North America’s biggest fantasy sports and betting companies, while working as a top regulator for Florida’s Game Control Committee. HB 1467 has explicitly stated that it will not work for fantasy sports companies for two years after Florida gambling regulators left the post.
Rep. John Snyder, a Palm City Republican, said his bill, which more formalized legalizes and regulates fantasy sports in Florida, did not necessarily respond to Trombetta’s move. Instead, it was about “market fairness.”
“Whenever there are regulators in a position to make important decisions about the industry, I think it’s important for them to sit on the bench a little before they come back,” Snyder said.
Trombetta did not respond to requests for comment. Fanduel said that after Trombotta accepted an offer to work for the company, he took steps to eliminate access to sensitive regulatory data, saying that the games he offers in Florida are not regulated by Florida’s Game Management Board as they are not considered gambling.
“Fanduel is not a Florida sports betting or Igaming license holder and is not subject to regulatory oversight by the Florida Games Board,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. They added, “Fundeel has not commented on any regulatory measures that Florida may have involved other companies.”
Gambling lawyer Trombotta was selected as the first executive director of the state’s new gaming board in March 2022. The committee was created to enforce Florida’s gambling laws and restrictions following a new agreement with the Governor of Florida and the Seminole Tribe.
The compact included a carve-out for the fantasy sports “Contest.” This is a rapidly evolving industry that rivals popular sports bets. Unlike sports bets where players bet on the outcome of games with casinos, fantasy sports players traditionally compete with each other to choose the roster of athletes who perform most in a particular sport over a period of time.
Because of that difference, Fantasy Sports – one study predicts it will grow to $59.63 billion by 2029. This is described as a game of skills like poker instead of luck because of “enhanced user engagement features” and “gamification”.
However, the fantasy sports industry has changed dramatically as states around the country legalize gambling. The fantasy platform allows players to bet on multiple game achievements and player performance at the same time, just like the sportsperlays offered at casinos. And if the player loses, the platform will keep the money like a casino.
A Seminole spokesman told the Times/Herald that these new games are invading exclusive gambling contracts with the state. Compacts generally grant exclusive rights to tribes to casino-style games where “homes” support the game and profit from them.
Trombetta targeted three companies that began offering games like these casinos in Florida: Prizepicks, Underdog and Betr. However, he did not distinguish between them and the traditional fantasy contest in a ceasefire and abolition letter he issued in 2023. Rather, he told the company that all fantasy games outside the compact were illegal and threatened them in prison time.
“Under Florida law, betting or betting the results of skills contests, including sports betting, including fantasy sports betting, constitutes a felony crime unless such activities are exempt from the law in other ways,” Trombotta wrote in the letter.
Bob Jarvis, a Florida gambling and ethics expert, also said that all fantasy sports betting is illegal in Florida.
“Florida is one of the few jurisdictions that betting on games is illegal, even if it’s a game with skills (not by chance), even if it’s illegal to bet on games,” wrote Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University in Fouderdale, in an email.
Trombotta did not send a halt and discard letter to two giants in the sports betting industry, Fanderer and Draft Kings. Both companies offer fantasy sports bets in Florida, but not a parlay style system offered by three upstarts. While there is no evidence to suggest that the Game Commission will take action to shut down any of the fantasy games currently on offer in Florida, the committee’s own website suggests that the game will operate in a legal gray area.
Thrombotta granted him access to sensitive data, criminal investigative information and trade secrets, but he resigned from the Games Commission in December 2024 and went to the lobby for Fundael as director of government relations later that month.
His decision not to send letters to Fanduel or Draft Kings raised eyebrows at the time. Three days after receiving his company’s ceasefire and abolition letter, Jeremy Levine, founder and CEO of the Underdog, pointed out the contradictions of Platform X.
The Florida Game Control Committee did not respond to multiple requests for comments.
Sen. Joe Gluters, a Sarasota Republican, also wrote to Trombotta in 2023, asking why the two biggest fantasy sports operators were removed from committee enforcement.
“I am concerned that the committee is applying an interpretation that is not supported by the law and that the committee may be selectively enforcing that interpretation,” writes Gruters.
Gluters said he later spoke to Trombotta. Trombotta assured him that he would halt the letter and send it to Draft King and Fundael, Florida News Service reported at the time. Those letters were not sent. Gluters told The Times/Herald last week that he had no idea that Trombetta had lobbyed Fanduel. He wasn’t surprised.
“It makes sense,” Gruters said.
A spokesman for Fanduel said the “published search” led to Trombetta’s employment and voluntarily submitted the public on November 15th.
After Trombetta’s halt and Desist’s letter, Prizepicks, Underdog, and Betr stopped offering more innovative parlay games. They rebooted the platform and offered more traditional fantasy sports betting, similar to Fanduel and Draftkings.
Anthony Alfieri, an ethics and legal expert at the University of Miami Law School, writes that the Trombotta move “poses a long-standing question of mistakes regarding the potential conflict of interest, the risk of restriction capture, and the opportunity to misuse public positions to ensure personal benefits.”
However, Jarvis, an expert in gambling law and ethics, said he was not surprised or troubled by the rapid movement of the Trombotta to Fanderer. The new Florida Game Commission is experiencing a common “growthing pain.”
“Does this look bad? Yeah, it looks bad,” Jarvis said in an interview. “But is this shocking? Is it surprising? Was it the first time it happened? No, no, and no.”
He added:
Corrected: Due to reporting errors, previous versions of this story had the false name of the ethics and legal experts of the University of Miami Law School that was cited. The story has since been updated.
