Judge's ruling puts Calder slots license in jeopardy

A Florida administrative law judge has ruled that Calder Race Course in Miami should lose its slot-machine license due to the demolition of its grandstand, reversing another judge’s ruling from late last year.

The ruling by Judge John Van Laningham calls into question a significant revenue source and the recent strategy by Churchill Downs to exit its racing business at Calder. Under Florida’s rules for horse tracks in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, Van Laningham wrote, slot-machine facilities must be “connected and contiguous to the live [racing] facility,” and the 2016 demolition of the track’s grandstand put Churchill in violation of that provision.

“Taken together, ‘contiguous and connected’ clearly do not mean proximate, abutting, adjoining, or adjacent, but conjoined, integrated, and united for a common purpose,” Van Laningham wrote.

The ruling, which was issued in response to a lawsuit filed by Florida’s horsemen, will now be sent to the state’s division of pari-mutuel wagering, which will be required to issue an order based on the opinion. A ruling last year will complicate the matter, as a different administrative law judge had ruled that the casino’s location adjacent to the track’s apron fulfilled the “contiguous” requirement.

Glen Berman, the executive director of the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, called the most recent ruling “exhaustive” and said that it validated the group’s suit.

“We want them to come into compliance with the law,” Berman said on Wednesday. “There should be a live gaming facility where people can bet on simulcasts and watch races.”

A spokesperson for Churchill did not reply to a request for comment Wednesday morning.

Calder’s racing operation has been under lease to The Stronach Group, the owner of nearby Gulfstream Park, since 2014. The grandstand began to be torn down in 2015, and in 2018 Churchill asked regulators whether it would be allowed to obtain a slot-machine license provided the facility conducted jai alai on the grounds. A temporary license was issued earlier this year under that reasoning, a decision that has also been disputed by the FHBPA under a separate lawsuit.

Churchill’s lease with The Stronach Group runs through 2020. Under the lease, The Stronach Group has been conducting a live race meet at the Calder property for approximately two months each year, under the name Gulfstream Park West.

According to Churchill’s financial statements for 2018, the casino at Calder had net revenue of $96 million. Of that total, Florida horsemen and breeders get 10 percent for purses and breeder awards.

Van Laningham’s ruling said that the demolition of the racing grandstand at Calder “diminishes the importance of live [racing] relative to slot machine gaming,” which the rules were designed to prevent.

“The unmistakable message is that the live horse races, having declined in popularity, have been degraded, demoted, reduced to second-class status,” he wrote. “Horse racing is no longer the main attraction, but an afterthought.”