A bill submitted to the Florida legislature would decouple Gulfstream Park’s pari-mutuel and slots licenses, allowing the track to continue offering slots even in the absence of live racing. That would put the track on equal footing with other facilities struggling to stay solvent as interest in horse racing and jai alai wane in the Sunshine State. The others enjoyed a similar legislative decoupling in previous years.
The bill, HB105, would allow thoroughbred racetracks to continue operating even if racing ceased at the facility. The current law, known as “Chapter 550,” bars thoroughbred tracks from operating slot machines if full-time racing (a season of at least 40 performances) ceases.
HB105 would let Gulfstream Park join Calder, Hialeah
Florida’s law currently allows the following type of facilities to decouple their slots licenses from their racing or game licenses:
- Jai alai
- Harness horse racing
- Quarter horse racing
- Greyhound racing (banned in the state since 2019)
Thoroughbred horse racing was excluded from that list. The new bill adds thoroughbred tracks to that list. Additionally, it removes a thoroughbred track’s responsibility to have agreements in place with the Florida Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association through which slots revenue can be used to pay for purses and breeders’, stallion and special racing awards.
The current law requires a thoroughbred track to keep horse racing alive rather than shutting its racing down to become a slots-first facility.
If the bill goes through, Gulfstream would join Calder Casino, Hialeah Park, and Pompano Park as the state’s notable decoupled horse tracks.
Calder Casino opened a jai alai fronton in 2019 and shut down its racing and jai alai operations in 2020. It is now is a casino-only facility.
Hialeah Park offered thoroughbred racing through 2001, launched quarter horse racing in 2009, then opened a casino in 2013.
Pompano Park, a harness racing track owned by Caesars Entertainment, successfully decoupled its pari-mutuel license from its slots license in 2021. In 2022, Caesars announced Pompano Park harness racing would end at the conclusion of the 2022 racing season.
The state’s other prominent horse track, Tampa Bay Downs, operates a card room in addition to thoroughbred racing but has no slot machines.
If the bill passes through the legislature and gets Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ signature as it’s written, it would go into effect on July 1.
Move to decouple draws criticism from NHBPA
The National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA) a national group of racing horse owners and trainers, issued a press release expressing opposition to the decoupling bill:
“The NHBPA, along with its affiliates — including the Tampa Bay HBPA — and many other horsemen across Florida, cannot currently support the proposed changes to Chapter 550. At this time, these changes do not appear to offer any favorable provisions for horsemen.”
The association went on to point out it has “consistently opposed decoupling” because it is “detrimental to the health and welfare of the horseracing industry.”