TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — An administrative judge has ruled that state regulators ignored the law when they allowed a Panhandle horse track to use barrel racing as way to bring gambling to a small town near the state capital.
The ruling issued Monday means that the track in the town of Gretna could be forced to eventually shut down both its race track and its poker room. Gretna is located about 25 miles west of Tallahassee.
“We consider this to be a complete repudiation of wayward gambling that has been going on,” said Michael Barry, an attorney who represented the groups that sued the state after it gave permission to barrel racing.
A spokeswoman for Creek Entertainment Gretna countered that the ruling would do nothing to affect operations for the next year because regulators recently renewed the track’s license.
“We intend to make the requisite modification to the racing to comply with the judge’s order while we appeal its arbitrariness,” Allison North Jones said.
Creek Entertainment Gretna opened the track in December 2011 featuring the rodeo-style sport of barrel racing. The operators maintained that barrel racing was legal because they had obtained a permit for quarter horse racing from the state.
But traditional quarter horse racing interests challenged the decision. They contended barrel racing was a way to qualify for lucrative card rooms and possibly slot machines while avoiding the higher cost of sprint races. Quarter horses are bred to go fast for a quarter of a mile.
Judge John Van Laningham said in his lengthy ruling that regulators turned existing gambling laws on their head when coming up with reasons to approve the barrel racing license.
He said that the Department of Business and Professional Regulation approved a “brand new” type of gambling and that regulators should have known it had never been previously authorized.
The ruling goes into great detail to explain the difference between regular horse racing and the races used at Gretna.
The department — which also oversees the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering — has 30 days to decide if it will appeal the ruling. A spokeswoman said the agency was still reviewing it.
The ruling has wider ramifications since a track in Hamilton County also has permission for barrel racing. It could also impact any move to eventually bring slot machines to the facilities.
Voters in Gadsden County back in 2012 supported adding slots to the Gretna track. But Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a legal opinion saying a law permitting slots applies only to Miami-Dade and Broward counties
Gov. Rick Scott said regulators would comply with Bondi’s opinion. So far no has challenged the decision.
