A horse racing bill advances in the Florida House

Share
horse racing
Horse racing by Arlette Lopez via iStock for WMNF News.

©2025 The News Service of Florida

The House Commerce Committee on Monday is scheduled to take up a bill aimed at eliminating a requirement that Florida’s two remaining thoroughbred horse tracks hold races to be able to offer other types of gambling.

The bill (HB 105), sponsored by Rep. Adam Anderson, R-Palm Harbor, would be positioned to go to the full House if it is approved by the committee.

It cleared the House Industries & Professional Activities Subcommittee last month, amid opposition from the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association and other critics who said it posed a threat to areas such as Marion County, which is a major player nationally in horse breeding.

In a concept known as “decoupling,” the bill would erase a requirement that Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs hold live races to be able to operate cardrooms and, in the case of Gulfstream, slot machines.

Anderson said during last month’s meeting his goal is to support the horse-racing industry. He argued decoupling would give the tracks “the tools that they need to make better business decisions to make their tracks more profitable.”

But opponents argued it would lead to an end of racing in the state. Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, has filed a Senate version of the bill (SB 408), which has not been heard in committees.

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

You may also like

March 2023 Doak Campbell Stadium, home of Florida State University Football - FSU
Six hospitalized after shooting at Florida State University; Suspect apprehended

Based on information provided by the Associated Press and News...

Florida bill could give the state more control over book bans

There are more book bans in Florida than any other...

Hands Off Tampa
Tampa activists plan to protest against Trump’s deportations

Listen: After thousands came out in Tampa and beyond to...

The Scoop: Thurs. April 17, 2025, Tampa Bay and Florida headlines by WMNF

Roundup of news headlines produced for WMNF Community Radio: Florida...

Ways to listen

WMNF is listener-supported. That means we don't advertise like a commercial station, and we're not part of a university.

Ways to support

WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of needed services to keep your community radio station alive and kickin'.

Audio After Hours
Player position: