Gulfstream Renews Decoupling Push Via Lawsuit

After failing to convince Florida legislators earlier this year to decouple its horse racing business from its right to offer slot machine gambling, Gulfstream Park filed a lawsuit that, if successful, would satisfy its goals via court order. The complaint filed Aug. 5 in the Circuit Court for Leon County, Fla., names the Florida Gaming Control Commission as the sole defendant. Groups that would be directly affected by the outcome of the case, such as the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association, are not named. The Commission, according to its website, is a regulatory agency. It provides oversight of all forms of authorized gambling in Florida except the state lottery. According to a post on X by Florida attorney Daniel Wallach, the lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of "a 2021 decoupling law which relieved every Florida pari-mutuel class (except Thoroughbreds) from the obligation to conduct a minimum number of live races/games as a condition of operating slot machines." Lonny Powell, CEO of the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association, released a statement critical of the lawsuit. "Today's news of Gulfstream Park's court filing is deeply troubling. 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. "Gulfstream Park is one of the few entities in Florida authorized to operate slot machines—a privilege they obtained specifically from their involvement with Thoroughbred racing," Powell continued. "This relationship has provided substantial economic benefits to the state for generations. "This lawsuit (is) about Gulfstream Park wanting to operate a casino without fulfilling their racing responsibilities. … 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 multibillion-dollar agricultural economy." A Gulfstream Park release contends the the law is on its side. "When the State first adopted legislation allowing pari-mutuel operators to have slot machines, all competitors were treated equally and given the same constitutional rights to have the machines so long as they ran live games or races. However, after Greyhound racing was banned in 2018, the State allowed those operators to keep their licenses without offering pari-mutuel wagering and memorialized that condition in 2021 in the Decoupling Act." "As part of the 2021 legislation," the release says, "harness tracks were given the option to retain live racing without implications for its slot machine license, while Gulfstream Park was singled out for irrational different treatment that not only required live racing but also carried significant penalties for not offering racing that included the loss of its slot machine license." The suit asks the court to declare the 2021 law unconstitutional. By its own terms, the law declared a four-year limitation on when affected parties could challenge it in court. That limitation was due to expire a few days after the lawsuit was filed. Wallach, who touts himself as "one of the nation’s foremost legal authorities in the field of sports gambling" on his website, relates on his X post, "Gulfstream asserts that the 2021 decoupling law—which was enacted at the same time as the legislation approving the Seminole Tribe's sports betting compact—is an unconstitutional 'special law' or otherwise violates Gulfstream's constitutional right to equal protection under the law by treating Thoroughbred permitholders less favorably than jai alai, Quarter Horse racing, and harness racing permitholders."