Florida legislators are considering a bill that would “decouple” the state’s two horse tracks’ gambling licenses from their races.
Gulfstream Park in South Florida and Tampa Bay Downs are required to offer thoroughbred horse races to host other card games.
The same requirement applied to Florida dog tracks, but voters banned dog racing through a 2018 ballot referendum. Once the races were forbidden, the tracks were still allowed to operate card rooms.
Under House Bill 1467, which was approved by a House subcommittee this week, the two horse tracks would be required to offer races for five years. Then, those venues could continue operating card games without the racing mandate.
The plan faces staunch opposition from the horse racing industry. Industry proponents argue the proposal would decimate the industry.
Trainer Jena Antonucci told the committee that setting a timeline allowing tracks to get away from racing would be “nothing but a countdown to collapse.”
A Senate committee declined to hear a similar bill in the upper chamber, but the House committee approved it by a 17-9 margin. The Senate version would have set the time frame for which tracks must offer racing at seven years.
Rep. Felicia Simone Robinson spoke in opposition, stating that Gulfstream received a casino license through a public referendum and that any change to that should come through the same route.
“If this is to go any further with the decoupling, it needs to go back to the people,” she said. “We should not be doing that here, because anything to do with what the people voted on is going against their vote.”
Rep. Adam Anderson, who represents part of the Tampa area, co-sponsored the bill. He noted that, despite the five-year minimum sunset clause for live racing, tracks must still provide a three-year notice of any plan to end racing operations. He said the bill also allows track owners to transfer a license, which isn’t currently allowed.
“They can move their license to another facility,” he said. “They can move their license to another individual. Under current law, if a track wanted to stop racing, it would not be able to do that, so racing would discontinue. If this bill passes, there’s an opportunity for someone else to pick up that license, or an opportunity for that permit holder to move it to another location.”
Over the past several years, Florida has undergone several changes in its gambling landscape.
In 2021, a new gaming compact with the Seminole Tribe allowed online sports betting and expanded gambling options at both pari-mutuels and Seminole-owned casinos. Now, legislators are pushing for a ban on sweepstakes casinos, which could clear the way for Seminole-owned online casinos.
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