Florida Lottery Retailer Bond
Do the math before you write a check. If the Lottery requires security on your account, it caps that security at twice your average weekly ticket sales — a store moving $3,500 a week is looking at up to $7,000 locked up. Post that as a cash CD and it sits idle, earning almost nothing, until the Lottery releases it. Post it as a surety bond instead and you pay a small annual premium — a fraction of the penal sum — and keep the $7,000 working in your store. That trade-off, not a generic definition of “lottery bond,” is what this page is about.
- Who requires it: The Florida Department of the Lottery, under Fla. Stat. § 24.112. The bond is discretionary, for example after a retailer’s background investigation or a third EFT delinquency in a twelve-month period.
- Amount: Capped at twice your average weekly ticket sales. A store moving $3,500 a week is looking at up to $7,000.
- Timing: Same-day submission; most quotes within one business day.
There is no blanket bond requirement — only two specific triggers
Some guides describe “the Florida lottery bond” as if every retailer needs one. They don’t. The bond only comes up in two situations, governed by two different provisions of Florida law, and it helps to know which one applies to you before you call for a quote.
Fla. Stat. § 24.112(9)(a)
New retailer application — background review
When you apply to become a licensed Florida Lottery retailer, the department runs a background investigation. If that review turns up something that makes the department want extra assurance — thin business history, weak credit, prior issues with a related license — it can condition your contract on posting security. Most clean applications never trigger this.
Fla. Admin. Code R. 53ER22-44
Third EFT settlement delinquency in 12 months
Every retailer's weekly ticket proceeds are swept from a designated bank account by EFT. Miss that sweep twice in a rolling year and you pay the shortfall plus a service charge. Miss it a third time in the same twelve months and reactivation is conditioned on posting a certificate of deposit or performance bond — not optional at that point.
One exception worth knowing: § 24.112(9)(a) explicitly says the bond requirement does not apply to the sale of prepaid lottery tickets. If your only exposure is prepaid product, this section doesn’t reach you.
How the amount is set: 2× your sales, not a fixed number
Unlike a lot of state license bonds that name one dollar figure for everyone, Florida ties your security to your own volume. Both statutory triggers use the same multiplier — they just measure a slightly different sales window.
Florida Lottery retailer security formula
Fla. Stat. § 24.112(9)(a) (background-review bond, sales period tied to remittance cycle) and Fla. Admin. Code R. 53ER22-44 (third EFT delinquency, average weekly ticket sales). Verified against flsenate.gov and law.cornell.edu.
For a brand-new retailer with no sales history yet, § 24.112(9)(a) caps the first-90-days bond at twice your estimated average sales for that initial remittance period — the department has to work from a projection until you have real numbers. Once you have 90 days on the books, any bond recalculates against your actual average.
You don’t have to tie up cash — the statute says so
This is the part that is easy to miss. Florida doesn’t force you into a cash deposit; the law names the surety bond alongside cash-equivalent alternatives and lets you pick.
Surety bond
Small annual premium, cash stays free
You pay a carrier a premium — typically a low single-digit percentage of the security amount for retailers with reasonable personal credit, more for thin or damaged credit — and the surety stands behind the full penal sum. Your $7,000 (from the example above) never leaves your operating account.
Cash / CD / securities
Full amount locked up, no premium
Under § 24.112(9)(b), the department can accept interest-bearing certificates of deposit, U.S. government bonds and notes, political subdivision general obligation bonds, or qualifying corporate bonds deposited with the Chief Financial Officer. No premium, but the entire $7,000 sits pledged and illiquid until the Lottery releases it.
Official Florida Requirements
"In lieu of such bond, the department may purchase blanket bonds covering all or selected retailers or may allow a retailer to deposit and maintain with the Chief Financial Officer securities that are interest bearing or accruing."2024 Florida Statutes, The Florida Senate • Fla. Stat. § 24.112(9)(b)
Know your average weekly sales? We can estimate your bond and shop it across surety markets today.
Start my Florida lottery bond quoteWhat actually happens when a weekly EFT sweep bounces
Your ticket proceeds are swept from a designated bank account every week. Rule 53ER22-44 spells out exactly what happens each time that sweep fails — and the bond only enters the picture on strike three.
1st delinquency
A failed EFT attempt. Both a first and second attempt failing in the same week still count as just one delinquency. Pay the amount due plus a service charge (the greater of $15 or 5% of the amount, capped at $150) to resume sales.
2nd delinquency (within 12 months)
Same cure — pay in full plus the service charge. The Lottery may also shorten your book-settlement period for a minimum of six months under specified conditions, tightening how long you can hold tickets before settling.
3rd delinquency (within 12 months)
Pay the delinquency in full plus the service charge, and post a certificate of deposit or performance bond with the Lottery before your terminal is reactivated for online and Scratch-Off sales. This is the only point at which security becomes mandatory, not discretionary.
The practical read: a single bounced sweep is a fixable, relatively cheap mistake. The real cost shows up on the third one in a rolling year, when reactivation stops being a matter of paying a bill and becomes a matter of posting security — which is exactly when knowing you can bond it instead of tying up cash matters most.
What Florida retailers actually ask about this bond
Does every Florida Lottery retailer need to post a bond?
No. Fla. Stat. § 24.112(9)(a) makes it discretionary: "the department may require every retailer to post an appropriate bond." In practice, the Lottery invokes that discretion in two situations — during a new retailer's background investigation if it determines security is "necessary to secure payment of lottery proceeds," or after an existing retailer racks up a third EFT settlement delinquency in a twelve-month period under Fla. Admin. Code R. 53ER22-44. Most retailers in good standing on their weekly settlement sweep never see a bond requirement at all.
What exactly triggers the bond after an EFT delinquency, and what happens on the first two?
An EFT delinquency is an unsuccessful attempt to electronically sweep your weekly settlement from your bank account — if the Lottery's first and second attempts on the same week both fail, that counts as one delinquency, not two. On your first and second delinquency in a rolling twelve months, you pay the amount owed plus a service charge (the greater of $15 or 5% of the amount due, capped at $150) to resume sales. On the third delinquency in that same twelve-month window, Rule 53ER22-44 requires you to pay in full plus the service charge and post a certificate of deposit or performance bond before the Lottery reactivates your ability to sell online and Scratch-Off tickets.
Can I post cash or a CD instead of a surety bond — does Florida require the bond specifically?
You have a choice, and it is worth understanding before you write a check. Fla. Stat. § 24.112(9)(b) lets the department accept interest-bearing securities deposited with the Chief Financial Officer — bank or federal certificates of deposit, U.S. government bonds and notes, political subdivision general obligation bonds, or qualifying corporate bonds — in lieu of a surety bond, and Rule 53ER22-44 names a "certificate of deposit or performance bond" as the two reinstatement options after a third delinquency. The functional difference: a CD or cash deposit locks up the full security amount as your own capital until the Lottery releases it, while a surety bond costs an annual premium (a fraction of the penal sum) and leaves your cash free to run the store.
How is my Florida lottery bond amount actually calculated?
It is not a flat statutory number the way some states set it — Florida ties it to your own sales volume. Under § 24.112(9)(a), the bond "may not exceed twice the average lottery ticket sales of the retailer for the period within which the retailer is required to remit lottery funds." For a brand-new retailer without 90 days of history, the cap is twice the average estimated sales for that same 90-day remittance period. Rule 53ER22-44 uses the identical 2× multiplier, but against average weekly ticket sales, when the trigger is a third EFT delinquency rather than the initial background review.
I sell prepaid phone cards and gift cards along with lottery tickets — does that bond apply to those sales too?
No. § 24.112(9)(a) carves out an explicit exception: the bond requirement "does not apply with respect to the sale of prepaid tickets." The bond exists to secure lottery ticket proceeds owed to the department under your retailer contract — it has nothing to do with unrelated retail lines you sell alongside lottery tickets, even ones settled through a similar point-of-sale terminal.
If I run multiple Florida store locations, do I need a separate bond for each one?
Typically yes, if security is required at all. The Florida Lottery contracts and reconciles weekly settlement at the individual retailer-location level, so a security requirement triggered by one location's background review or delinquency history is calculated against that location's own sales — not blended across a multi-store operator's total volume. If you operate several licensed locations, expect the Lottery to evaluate (and potentially require security for) each one independently.
Selling lottery tickets elsewhere, or licensed for more in Florida?
Operating in more than Florida, or running other regulated business lines in the state? Start here.
New to how surety pricing works? See what determines your surety bond cost before you apply.
All content is researched from official state and federal sources (.gov). BuySuretyBonds.com works with Treasury-listed surety carriers.
General information, not legal, tax, or underwriting advice. Florida Lottery retailer bond requirements, security formulas, and EFT delinquency rules are set by the Florida Legislature (Fla. Stat. § 24.112) and the Florida Department of the Lottery (Fla. Admin. Code R. 53ER22-44), and change over time. Confirm whether security applies to your account and the exact amount with the Florida Lottery before filing, and request a quote for current premium pricing.
Keep the cash in your store, not in a CD
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