Supreme Court Opens Door to Daytime Simulcasting at Gulfstream Park
The State Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion Thursday in striking down a statute that prevented Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino from accepting wagers on daytime simulcast signals from other thoroughbred racetracks across the country.
Gulfstream Park will begin accepting daytime wagers once an agreement with Calder Race Course and the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association is reached. Talks among the three parties began immediately after Thursday’s court ruling was announced.
Sam Gordon, President of the Florida HBPA, called the Supreme Court’s opinion “critically important and certainly welcomed news to horsemen throughout the state. Help like this from the judicial side of government gives me hope that we can get some help from the legislative and executive branches in the form of tax-relief on pari-mutuel facilities with slot machines. A 50% tax rate is far too much, an unfair economic imposition.”
Bill Murphy, President and General Manager of Gulfstream Park, greeted the news as part of “a bright day for Florida racing. This decision will have a highly positive and far-reaching impact on the economy of the state’s thoroughbred industry. Jobs that have been lost can now be restored and an important component to the economic well being of Florida will once again be allowed to flourish.”
Gulfstream Park’s 2008 meeting begins Jan. 3.
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