In Florida, the impacts of the passage of Amendment 3 and Amendment 13 are being analyzed. Amendment 3 gave voters the right to determine n on-tribal expanded gambling in the state, and Amendment 13 will phase out live greyhound racing by the end of 2020.
Amendment 3
Amendment 3 was approved by more than 71 percent of voters; 60 percent was required for passage. John Sowinski, president of Voters in Charge, the political group behind the amendment, said, “By their overwhelming vote in support of Amendment 3, Florida voters have given the people, not the politicians and lobbyists, control over gambling. Florida voters have kicked open the doors of Tallahassee’s back rooms and demanded an end to gambling industry influence in the hallways of the capitol.”
The Walt Disney Company donated nearly $20 million to the Amendment 3 campaign, and the Seminole Tribe of Florida donated nearly $25 million. The amendment will not affect the Seminole’s six Class III gaming facilities in southern Florida and actually will protect it from threats.
The tribe’s gaming compact with the state gives it exclusivity to operate certain games in exchange for a share of revenue. But a federal judge ruled two years ago that the state in fact has authorized non-tribal gaming expansion in violation of the Seminole Compact, while the compact has not been extended. Meanwhile the tribe has continued to share revenue according to the expired compact; since 2004, it has shared more than $1.75 billion in casino revenue with Florida.
The state is not likely to risk losing some or all of those payments over sports betting, which would generate insignificant revenue by comparison. However, under its compact, the Seminole Tribe could offer it at their Class III casinos. The tribe has not taken a position on the issue.
In addition, slot machines are unlikely to be allowed in the eight counties that held referendums to approve them. Analysts assume casino-style gambling is likely to be limited to places that already have it.
Amendment 13
Amendment 13 passed with 69 percent of the vote. It requires Florida’s 11 active dog tracks to phase out live greyhound racing by January 1, 2021. The amendment passed in 10 of the 11 Florida counties with operating dog racetracks.
Greyhound racetracks still will be allowed to run race horses, if possible, and also offer wagering on simulcast races from other tracks, including from dog racetracks in Arkansas, Alabama, Iowa, Texas and West Virginia, the six other states that still allow greyhound racing. In addition, dog racetracks still will be allowed to operate card rooms and offer slots at Broward and Miami-Dade county racetracks.
Racetrack owners are expected to convert dog-racing facilities to additional restaurants and nightclubs and to expand casino floor areas. Parimutuel casinos can offer a maximum of 2,000 slots, though none to date have approached that limit.
As of October, there were about 3,700 greyhounds in Florida, according to the Humane Society of the United States and the anti-racing group Grey2K USA Worldwide. A 2015 report from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Grey2K found that nationwide more than 11,000 greyhounds were injured and more than 900 died from 2008 and 2015. In Florida, nearly 500 greyhounds died since the state started tracking deaths in 2013.
Humane Society of the United States Acting President and Chief Executive Kitty Block said, “We worked to stop the cruelty.” Grey2K USA Executive Director Carey Theil added, “A 69-percent vote in Florida–a state with a still-conservative electorate–shows that this is now unstoppable. It sends a message not only to the remaining dog tracks in the nation but all around the world that dogs are members of our families and we will not tolerate industries that harm them.”
However, National Greyhound Association Director Jim Gartland said Amendment 13 passed because voters were “misled into supporting a measure that not only will cost thousands of jobs in the state, but one that opens the door for future campaigns to force the radical animal rights agenda on the people.” Gartland said he was upset over the portrayal of the industry as abusive. “It makes absolutely no sense. If we rely on the greyhounds for our living, why would we mistreat them?” he said.
At Orlando greyhound adoption group God’s Greyts, President Carol Becker said the group opposed Amendment 13 and claimed the dogs were well cared for. “Contrary to what the public might think about dog racing, they are not abused. I have been in these greyhound kennels, I have seen how they are living and how they are treated,” Becker said.
She added, “There is no way to know when the tracks will close or how many dogs are coming into the market, so we are sitting on pins and needles, but also quietly working to try to find new foster homes, calling vets about care packages and looking for people willing to drive vans to Florida to pick the dogs up. We are trying to avoid a crisis if too many tracks close around the same time and there are not enough homes lined up.”
Not all of the dogs will be retired from racing. Greyhound Adoption Action Alliance Co-chairman Dennis Tyler said, “When the ban takes place they’re not all going to be pets. I’m assuming 1,500 to 2,000 will go to race somewhere else.”
In the aftermath of the vote, greyhound racetracks are weighing their options. The new amendment will be particularly challenging for operations that don’t offer card rooms to supplement dog racing revenue, like Orlando Sanford Kennel Club in Longwood. Parent company Penn National Vice President Jeff Morris said, “This election result will have an obvious impact on our investment at Sanford Orlando Kennel Club and our 100-plus employees, some of whom have worked there for several decades. For now, it will be business as usual as we begin to contemplate our next steps.”
The Florida Greyhound Association issued a statement claiming Amendment 13 will “trigger thousands of lawsuits, as every entity that could establish a legitimate claim that Amendment 13 adversely affected their ‘reasonable investment-backed expectations’ could be expected to file a lawsuit.” Those lawsuits could cost Florida taxpayers “hundreds of millions” of dollars in damages, the statement said.
Theil called those comments “ridiculous.” He said, “This is a gambling business. The laws regarding gambling change constantly. It has been banned and legalized and banned and legalized many times. When you’re in a business like that, you’re taking your chances. They should have been on a path to reform years ago, and instead they deceived themselves with this story that we were radicals and extremists. I don’t think they realized until Wednesday morning, if even then, that we were actually channeling the mainstream view on the welfare of dogs.”
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said, “I am pleased the voters of Florida cast their ballots, by such an overwhelming margin, to protect greyhounds. If litigation is brought, we will review it at that time and take the appropriate action.”
Meanwhile, Gartland noted in 2007 about 20,000 greyhounds were registered by the National Greyhound Association. That number fell to 8,500 by 2017, and Amendment 13 will drive that even lower. “It’s going to affect greyhound farms and families all over the country. Some had cut back 10 or 20 percent of their operation in anticipation of this happening, and that’s not going to be enough now,” Gartland said.
