Beware the voters
July 24th, 2009 by admin
The amount of money bet on greyhound racing in Florida has been steadily declining for years. That’s good news for the dogs! To keep the lights on, dog tracks have turned to poker tables and slot machines.
The Sanford Orlando Kennel Club is one of only a few tracks in Florida that do not offer poker. So it was not surprising when the Club approached the City of Longwood looking to open a card room.
State law requires that dog and horse tracks, and jai alai frontons, get local approval before opening card rooms. The City of Longwood felt that a card room would also need the approval of the county. City commissioners had scheduled a vote for Monday on a petition asking the county to place a referendum on the next ballot. But shortly before the meeting, the track told the city that it did not want a countywide vote on the issue. Back to the drawing board for the Sanford Orlando Kennel Club.
Apparently, the track was not very confident that they would have been able to persuade Seminole County residents of the need to expand gambling in their community. The track would have much rather tried to persuade five city commissioners.
According to an article in the Orlando Sentinel, “Mark Loewe, general manager at the dog track, which has long pushed Longwood to approve card rooms, said the decision should be made by city commissioners, not Seminole County voters. He said a countywide referendum could be worded in a way that causes people to vote against it, and the club is worried that only a small and unrepresentative group of voters would cast ballots on the issue.”
Longwood Mayor Butch Bundy told the paper that card rooms at the dog track is a “dead issue.” Please send a quick e-mail to the City of Longwood thanking them for defending the right of residents to have a say on important local issues.
Contact:
Mayor H.G. “Butch” Bundy
E-mail: hbundy@longwoodfl.org
Online comment form.
Visit ARFF’s website to learn more about greyhound racing.