Florida judge throws out Gulfstream’s decoupling lawsuit
A Florida judge struck a blow this week against Gulfstream Park’s push to decouple its racing and gaming licenses when he threw out a year-old lawsuit that track owners filed against the Florida Gaming Control Commission.
The commission and the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association convinced judge Joshua Hawkes to dismiss the case brought by The Stronach Group.
Flashback: Eve of decoupling failure in Florida Senate.
“The court finds legitimate governmental interests, including regulation of gambling and pari-mutuel wagering, promotion of tourism and revenues associated with live racing and interests specific to the Thoroughbred industry and concludes the live-racing requirement for Thoroughbred permit holders is rationally related to those interests,” Hawkes wrote in his Tuesday order. “(The Stronach Group) has not negated every conceivable rational basis.”
The dismissal was reported first by BloodHorse.
Stronach unsuccessfully argued that it was being singled out unconstitutionally by being forced to run horse races in order to keep its slot-machine license. In its original filing with the Leon County circuit court in August 2025, it said other pari-mutuel operators were allowed to decouple their gaming licenses from their harness, quarter-horse and jai-alai competitions.
A state law that took effect in 2004 gave operators the OK to add slot machines and card rooms as long as they kept running their pari-mutuel competitions. In the case of Thoroughbred racing, it was done to provide a financial lifeline to the horse industry and stoke purses at Gulfstream Park, which has slot machines, and Tampa Bay Downs, which operates a card room.
Before and after it filed the lawsuit, Stronach failed to get the Florida state legislature to pass a decoupling bill. In 2025 and 2026, the proposal never got a formal reading in the Senate even though it was passed each time by the House.
Hawkes dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning he is done with it. Stronach has the right to appeal to a higher court. A spokesperson said in a Friday text to Horse Racing Nation that the company had “nothing to add at this time.”
An executive with the FTBOA said the organization would not have a statement at this time.