‘Encumbered’ By ‘Statutory Burden’ Of Live Racing To Operate Slots, Gulfstream Files Lawsuit To Overturn Law

[Wandering Eyes]

After this past spring's failed attempt to get a controversial bill passed in the Florida legislature that would have stripped a 40-days-minimum live racing requirement from its casino licensure, the owners of Gulfstream Park have filed a lawsuit against the Florida Gaming Control Commission (FGCC), alleging that the 2021 statute that allowed all classes of pari-mutuel licensees except Thoroughbreds to “decouple” from live racing as a condition of operating slot machines is an “unconstitutional special law and violates the equal protection clause of the Florida Constitution.”

Daniel Wallach, a Florida-based attorney who specializes in gaming law, was first to break the news of the litigation via a Wednesday posting on the X social media platform.

Wallach wrote that the lawsuit is a “buzzer-beater” because “the deadline for asserting these claims was set to expire on Aug. 11, 2025–the four-year anniversary of the 'effective' date of the 2021 compact between the Seminole Tribe and the State of Florida to which the decoupling law's effectiveness was linked.”

The Aug. 5 lawsuit in the Second Judicial Circuit for Leon County stated that Gulfstream “is encumbered by the requirement to conduct live racing, and the only pari-mutuel permitholder who faces criminal prosecution if it fails to maintain live racing while continuing the conduct of slot machine gaming.”

The lawsuit stated that “Gulfstream alone bears the statutory burden to sustain one particular industry–Thoroughbred horseracing–in order to participate in another industry–slot machines. No other competitor suffers that legislatively imposed burden on its constitutional right to operate slot machines.”

The lawsuit continued: “This differential treatment destroys Gulfstream's ability to compete with other similarly situated entities and puts Gulfstream at a severe disadvantage as compared to other similarly situated entities.

“There is no rational basis for treating Gulfstream differently than other similarly situated entities,” the lawsuit stated.

“This differential treatment inflicts irreparable injury on Gulfstream, which includes its ability to continue to exercise its state constitutional rights,” the lawsuit stated.

In addition to the unconstitutionality declarations that Gulfstream is seeking to nullify the live racing mandate, the lawsuit also wants the court to enjoin the FGCC from requiring Gulfstream to have “written binding agreements” with the Florida Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (FHBPA) and Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association (FTBOA) as a condition of obtaining its slots license.

Lonny Powell, the chief executive officer of the FTBOA, described the court filing as “deeply troubling” in an Aug. 6 press release.

“Let's be clear: this is a casino-first move, not a racing-first one,” Powell said. “The courts should recognize it for what it is–a direct threat to our industry's integrity and Florida agriculture's future.”

Lonnie Powell | Serita Hult

Powell said that “after benefiting for decades from the prestige and profits of Florida's Thoroughbred industry, they're now asking the courts to let them abandon it entirely.”

Powell said Gulfstream's authorization to operate slot machines is “a privilege they obtained specifically from their involvement with Thoroughbred racing.”

The website Florida Politics quoted Marie Long, the general counsel for Gulfstream's parent company, 1/ST Racing and Gaming, as saying that, “The law on its face is anti-free markets, with the government picking winners and losers with its legislation.”

Long continued: “This is a matter of fair and equal treatment under the law, which the Decoupling Act clearly and intentionally violates. This is not about racing–we are committed to a sustainable future for racing. It's about our inability to compete with the private slot operators who don't have to meet the same obligations we must meet to run our business because they receive special treatment at our expense.”

Powell disagreed.

“This lawsuit isn't about fairness; it's about Gulfstream Park wanting to operate a casino without fulfilling their racing responsibilities. They're turning their back on the very industry that built their brand and bottom line,” Powell said.

“The 2021 decoupling law was designed to preserve Florida's core horse racing institutions. Gulfstream Park's attempt to overturn it would open the floodgates; eroding Thoroughbred racing statewide, threatening family farms, rural jobs, and a multi-billion-dollar agricultural economy,” Powell said.

Messages seeking comment left with the FHBPA and FGCC did not yield replies prior to deadline for this story.

The post ‘Encumbered’ By ‘Statutory Burden’ Of Live Racing To Operate Slots, Gulfstream Files Lawsuit To Overturn Law appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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