Florida Woman Convicted in LVS Casino Petition Fraud Case
Posted on: August 6, 2025, 12:22h.
Last updated on: August 6, 2025, 02:23h.
- Maria Bautista submitted 191 fraudulent petitions in 2021 campaign
- Scheme targeted a constitutional amendment for Florida casino expansion
- Las Vegas Sands and Seminole Tribe clashed over initiative
An Ocala, Fla., woman has been found guilty of 13 counts of personal identification fraud relating to Las Vegas Sands Corp’s failed 2021 ballot campaign to allow limited casino gaming in Florida.
Maria Guadalupe Bautista, 26, was convicted by a Marion County jury for her involvement in a petition fraud scheme during the highly charged campaign, Ocala-News reported.
In 2021, LVS plowed an unprecedented $49.5 million into a political action committee (PAC) called “Florida Voters in Charge” (FVC). The PAC campaigned to get an initiative on the 2022 ballot asking voters to allow North Florida card rooms to become casinos.
This could have enabled LVS and other gaming companies to purchase a parimutuel card room in the Jacksonville area that could have been converted into a Las Vegas-style casino.
Contentious Campaign
The Seminole Tribe of Florida, which has exclusivity on casino gaming in the state, fiercely opposed the campaign and funneled tens of millions into counterattacking the FVC initiative.
Campaigning on both sides was unsavory, according to local media. FVC claimed the Seminoles used underhanded tactics to sabotage its ballot initiative, including the “coordinated harassment and intimidation” of signature gatherers.
The FVC campaign ultimately failed to get the required number of signatures to push the issue onto the ballot, and the effort was hampered by the appearance of an unprecedented number of invalid submissions that included falsified petition signatures. Some of these included the names of people who had died.
The Marion County Supervisor of Elections (SOE) said the campaign had been tainted by “widespread fraud.” One supervisor told the Miami Herald he had found his own name and that of his wife on one of the petitions it was his duty to inspect.
Fake Signatures
A subsequent investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement found that Bautista turned in 191 of 767 suspected fraudulent petitions.
It was later determined that 16 of the petitions Bautista submitted contained fraudulent signatures, two of which were for individuals who had passed away before the date signed on the forms. She was arrested in August 2023.
This fraud is a way to run around the state’s legislative process and turn Florida’s Constitution into a playground for political gamesmanship, and it’s unacceptable,” said Attorney General James Uthmeier said in a statement.
Bautista will receive at least three years in prison when sentenced later this year.
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