Bills would allow gambling without greyhounds

There may be a lot fewer greyhounds running in the nation's dog-racing capital if bills moving through the state Legislature receive final approval.

But it doesn't appear that any move to cut back on Florida racing schedules will affect Derby Lane, the venerable Gandy Boulevard institution that features year-round racing and has held meets since 1925.

"We have no plans on altering our racing schedule whatsoever," said Vera Rasnake, spokeswoman for the St. Petersburg track.

Rasnake's assessment comes as the Legislature considers bills that would allow greyhound sites to cease live racing to focus on card rooms. Current law requires tracks to run a certain amount of races in order to operate poker games.

Aside from Derby Lane's outlook, greyhound racing has foundered elsewhere in the state as gamblers turn to cards, slot machines and Indian casinos that have recently expanded offerings with the Legislature's blessing.

Florida has been the nation's top dog-racing state, with 16 facilities. But the total "handle," or amount wagered on greyhounds statewide, has decreased from $633 million in 1999-2000 to $292 million in 2009-2010.

Tampa Greyhound Track is among four Florida sites that has shipped its racing slate to other tracks. Tampa Greyhound, on Nebraska Avenue, now focuses exclusively on its Lucky's Card Room and moved its half-year schedule across the bay to Derby Lane. That strategy falls within the Legislature's mandate of offering live racing.

Supporters of the legislation said they want to allow the market to drive racing schedules, not artificial state requirements.

"Whatever gambling scheme that we had in the past is not working any more," said Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, chairwoman of the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Finance and Tax, which passed the bill on Wednesday.

"We have a decision to make as to whether we want to allow our businesses to grow or if we want to strategically and statutorily run them out of businesses," said Bogdanoff, a Republican from Fort Lauderdale.

Sen. Jim Norman said Indian casinos, dog racing, horse racing and jai-alai have all had their waves of popularity. He noted that a Home Depot now stands on the Dale Mabry Highway site of the former Tampa Jai-Alai Fronton.

"I've seen the evolution of things over the time periods," said Norman, a Tampa Republican. "The market changes. We need to get out of the way."

Opponents of the bill, including the Florida and National Greyhound Associations, said continuing the existing racing slates would protect over 3,000 jobs and produce more than $5 million in state revenue.

Meanwhile, Crystal Carroll, a greyhound trainer and breeder from Miami, feared that the widespread elimination of racing would release a flood of unwanted dogs onto the adoption market.

"There's no phase-out plan in the bill," she said. "It's really irresponsible to me. They don't understand the sheer number of dogs this could affect."

Carroll put the figure at 10,000 dogs. "I know what it would be like on the adoption end," she said. "There's no way to handle that many animals."

A House companion passed out of a committee earlier this week and has one more hearing scheduled before going to a full floor vote. The Senate bill has two more committee stops.

(850) 222-8382