Appeals court declines to stop barrel racing in gretna - IPL Laser Equipment Manufacturer

While the State of Florida grapples with a $2 billion budgetdeficit, one of its top regulatory agencies is simultaneouslyexpending untold taxpayer funds to escalate and exacerbate a costlylegal battle to defend the expansion of gambling, to whichFlorida s top-ranking state legislators have repeatedly voicedtheir increasing opposition during the past several weeks. In defense of Gretna Racing, LLC--a private entity with an AlabamaIndian Tribe as a majority owner together with Gulfstream Parklobbyist Marc Dunbar and former Gulfstream Park attorney DavidRomanik--the Florida Department of Business and ProfessionalRegulation released dozens of pages of publicly-funded litigationdesigned to defend the very situation that the Florida Legislatureis now vigorously debating how to curtail. With the Cabinet members now having publicly declared theiropposition to the expansion of gambling through destinationresorts, the State of Florida s attitude toward the unfetteredproliferation of gambling has been greatly clarified. But, to the chagrin of its sponsors, the intent of the would-bedestination resort legislation s proposed gaming commission hadalready been unexpectedly usurped by the Florida Department ofBusiness and Professional Regulation s (DPPR s) highlyquestionable and unilateral award of a racing license to GretnaRacing LLC. As expected, the dubious license was ultimately usedfor purpose of introducing pari-mutuel barrel racing. IPL Beauty Equipment

Constituting a brand new gambling product, the license was awardedwithout enabling legislation, proper regulatory hearings or publicinput. As expected, Gretna Racing officials immediately used theirnew license to secure a slot machine referendum in GadsdenCounty a loophole-laden legal maneuver that quickly broughtcopycat requests from other small pari-mutuel permitholders. So outraged were top legislative leaders at Gretna Racing sactions that, in a Senate Committee on Regulated Industriesworkshop last week, some called for the need to solve the GretnaRacing problem before taking up the destination resort bills. As the people s regulator, it is unconscionable that the DBPR isusing the public dime to finance protracted litigation to protectits unilateral expansion of gambling, when the Legislature ismaking it quite clear that this is not the direction it wants forthe State of Florida, remarked Florida Horsemen s Benevolent andProtective Association (FHBPA) Executive Director Kent Stirling. What amazes me is that the State of Florida is actually financefailure by strangling off what could be thousands of jobs andexponentially greater wagering if Gretna Racing were to simply haveadhered to legitimate Quarter Horse racing, added FHBPA PresidentPhil Combest, who also noted the startling disparity in opening dayhandle between Gretna Racing ($2,581) and Gulfstream Park($4,837,605 constitutes a 22% increase). IPL Laser Equipment Manufacturer

These numbers weregenerated literally within two days of one another. The comparisonthat the Gulfstream Park and Gretna Racing facilities were the sameas one another was made on December 2 by former Gulfstream Parkattorney-turned-Gretna Racing Developer David Romanik in aninterview with internationally known horse racing writer RayPaulick. Combest reminded that Florida regulations stipulate thatpari-mutuel permitholders must demonstrate that they can protectthe flow of revenue to the State. So we re killing the revenuewe could have had with legitimate racing, killing jobs in the horseracing industry, hammering the gravestones with taxpayer-fundedlitigation and paying Florida legislators to contemplate the wholething, he said. To me, that s the real government waste. Fractional RF Microneedle Manufacturer