The Florida Supreme Court granted Attorney General Pam Bondi‘s office an extension to February 11 to prepare legal arguments in a closely watched case that will determine if certain Florida dog and horse racetracks can offer slot machines outside South Florida if local voters approved them. The case was brought by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians which runs the racetrack in Gretna, where Gadsden County voters approved slots in a 2012 referendum.
Gretna city officials have said adding slots will boost the local economy and create jobs in the town of 1,400, where about 25 percent of the population is below the federal poverty level. Tribal officials said the track site eventually would offer a convention hotel, restaurants and shops.
The 1st District Court of Appeal first ruled slots were allowed because Gadsden County voters had approved a referendum authorizing them. Then Bondi requested a rehearing and, following the retirement and replacement of one of the original pro-slots judges, the court ruled 2-1 against slots at the Gretna track. However, the request for the Supreme Court review stated, “All four judges agreed that the question passed upon in both decisions is a question of great statewide importance and both decisions certified that question to the Supreme Court of Florida.”
The Gadsden County case will have far-ranging impact in Florida, including Lee County, where voters also supported allowing slots at the Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Track in Bonita Springs in a November 2012 referendum. The Bonita track applied for a slot machine license last August and the state denied it eight days later. The track has appealed the denial to the state licensing agency– but the outcome there depends on the Gadsden County case pending before the state Supreme Court. The Bonita track filed a friend of the court brief in the case in December, calling the rationale for the appeals court’s reversal of its own decision “strange and unnecessary.”
Meanwhile the Bonita track continues to offer greyhound races costing about $3 million annually, plus poker rooms and simulcasts that keep the operation going.
Governor Rick Scott’s negotiated Seminole compact that would generate $3 billion for the state over seven years not only would let the tribe offer banked card games, like blackjack, at seven casinos—it also would allow them at parimutuel facilities in Broward and Miami-Dade contingent on voter approval. But local track owners in other areas are concerned the issue was left out of the proposed Seminole compact.
Hard Rock International Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Gaming Operations for Seminole Gaming James Allen said slot machines at the Bonita Springs track would not directly compete with any Seminole operations, including the Seminole Immokalee casino.
In order to continue to offer poker and simulcast wagering, the Bonita track must run at least 3,000 races a year–90 percent of the number of dog races it ran in 1996 when poker was legalized for the track. Decoupling legislation would separate dog racing from other gambling activities. Izzy Havenick, owner of the Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound track and another in south Florida, said, “With no dogs, there is no simulcast wagering and no poker. We’re required to lose money running an insane number of dog races. If we want to survive, we need slots. Bonita is dying for us without a new project.”
Havenick added offering slots would let him expand the facility and renovate the poker rooms and concession areas. About 25 years ago, the track’s handle was more than $1 million on most racing dates. Today, Havenick said, bettors wager about $40,000 during a typical eight-race card.
Greyhound breeders and owners oppose decoupling, claiming it would turn racetracks into casinos and lead to the end of all live greyhound racing in Florida.
