As the Florida Legislature debates the state’s gambling landscape, making decisions that will have impacts for decades, the gateway to the state’s southernmost reaches will be adding jai-alai and poker by the end of the year – thanks to an arcane 1980 law.
Hialeah Park owner John Brunetti is working with Florida City officials to open a gaming facility near the intersection of Florida’s Turnpike and U.S. 1. That’s where travelers stop feeling they’re in Miami and start picking up that Florida Keys vibe.
Brunetti bought 38 acres for $6.7 million late last year, and received zoning approval in January from the Florida City council, although the city must still approve specific plans for the site.
Florida City has a population of 11,245 as of 2010, and is far from the heart of Miami – in an area Hialeah Park’s competitors don’t care much about. The closest card room to the area is Miccosukee Resort & Gaming, about 35 miles north.
Hialeah Park acquired state approval for an extra jai-alai license after a lawyer discovered, in 2011, that in 1980 the state had passed a law to prop up struggling horse and dog tracks. The law allows a summer permit to be awarded to the lowest-performing pari-mutuel in any county that has at least five existing permits.
How much has the scene changed since 1980? Back then, Hialeah Park was running thoroughbred racing. It closed in 2001, citing too much competition in South Florida. Brunetti reopened Hialeah in 2009, featuring quarter horse races, races which last about 25 seconds – and don’t draw much betting action, making it eligible as the least-lucrative pari-mutuel in Miami-Dade County.
John Lockwood, an attorney for Magic City Casino (the former Flagler dog track), found the old law, and Magic City obtained an extra jai-alai permit via this process in 2011. But Magic City owners then went a different direction, buying one-fourth of Dania Jai-Alai in 2014, and opening a slot facility there in January 2016.
This being Florida, Hialeah Park needed a lawsuit to uphold its right to the permit. The state’s Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering interpreted the law to disqualify Hialeah’s request for another permit, but in July 2015 an appeals court reversed the state’s denial.
Florida City Mayor Otis T. Wallace cautions there are many steps to go, but he said the city is eager to work with Brunetti. “I’m excited about the prospects,” Wallace said. “It will have a whole spillover effect on other businesses and be a catalyst to the area.”
Meanwhile, the rest of the state is engrossed in a multi-way tug-of-war. The Seminole Tribe of Florida is looking for craps, roulette, and exclusive slot rights outside of South Florida. The Palm Beach Kennel Club and representatives from five other counties want slots based on referendums. Others are complaining that Florida is offering too many gambling options, which spoil what they say is a family-friendly image for the Sunshine State. (Read: Disney interests don’t want competition and fear an eventual expansion to hotel-resort casinos.)
Florida City, though, is a long way from Orlando, in both distance and lifestyle. So there has been no uproar about this latest odd twist in a state well known for them.
