{"id":17835,"date":"2025-10-23T21:07:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T21:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/17835\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T21:07:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T21:07:11","slug":"floridas-bestbet-sues-over-cardroom-approval-for-controversial-racetrack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/17835\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida\u2019s Bestbet Sues Over Cardroom Approval for Controversial \u2018Racetrack\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Posted on: October 23, 2025, 03:44h.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\n Last updated on: October 23, 2025, 03:44h.\n <\/p>\n

\"Avatar <\/p>\n

Bestbet sues regulators over Hamilton Downs cardroom expansion approval
\nDispute revives controversy from 2015 \u201cflag-drop\u201d horse races
\nCase could reshape Florida\u2019s parimutuel and cardroom gaming rules<\/p>\n

A north Florida card room operator that once ran controversial \u201cflag drop\u201d races has no business opening a new venue a stone\u2019s throw from the Georgia border, according to a newly filed lawsuit from competitor Bestbet Holdings.<\/p>\n

\"HamiltonBestbet Jacksonville, above. Owner Bestbet Holdings claims nothing in Florida law allows Hamilton Downs to open a cardroom close to the Georgia border. (Image: Bestbet Holdings)<\/p>\n

Bestbet<\/a>, which operates card rooms in Jacksonville and Orange Park, sued the Florida Gaming Control Commission (FGCC) last week. The suit claims the agency exceeded its authority when it approved an amendment for Hamilton Downs Horsetrack, LLC to open a card-room site in Hamilton County.<\/p>\n

Ultra-Low-Fi Spectacle<\/p>\n

Hamilton Downs hit the headlines a decade ago when Florida regulators sought to sanction it for offering comically bare-bones \u201cflag-drop\u201d races to satisfy the minimum live-racing requirement needed to keep its quarter-horse permit active.<\/p>\n

These ultra-low-fi spectacles involved \u201ca series of races involving [two] tired, reluctant, skittish, or disinterested horses moving at a slow pace down the dust-choked path,\u201d according to court documents at the time.<\/p>\n

There was no marked starting line or finish line,\u201d according to the documents. \u201cThe horses were often yards apart when the red rag-on-a-stick was waved [signaling the start of the race].\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the regulator\u2019s objections, in August 2015, Administrative Law Judge John G. Van Laningham determined that Florida\u2019s parimutuel statutes did not require more than Hamilton Downs\u2019 minimal contests to qualify for \u201cracing.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s despite his acknowledgment that they resembled an \u201centry-level campers\u2019 horse show held at the conclusion of a two-week YMCA summer camp.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drop the Sham<\/p>\n

Hamilton\u2019s ownership group once operated the now-defunct Hamilton Jai-Alai & Poker card room \u2013 or at least shared investors with it. The jai-alai venue, located about 12 miles from Hamilton Downs, was a separate facility that maintained its gambling permit by staging a quota of jai-alai matches each year.<\/p>\n

In 2021, Florida scrapped the law<\/a> that required cardroom operators to offer a quota of racing or jai alai as a condition of their gambling licenses. This allowed Hamilton Downs to ditch the sham pony show and concentrate on opening a future cardroom strategically positioned to attract the gambling-starved residents of South Georgia.<\/p>\n

In June of this year, the Florida Gaming Control Commission (FGCC) unanimously approved Hamilton Downs\u2019 request to \u201camend its permitted property description.\u201d<\/p>\n

The amendment allows the company to place its card-room facility on property adjacent to where the old racing took place. The FGCC issued a final order in July approving the change.<\/p>\n

Bestbet Bites Back<\/p>\n

Bestbet\u2019s lawsuit argues that Florida law does not authorize a permit holder to move or expand its card room beyond the originally approved location unless specific statutory exceptions apply, and it says Hamilton Downs doesn\u2019t meet those criteria.<\/p>\n

Bestbet also cites a Florida constitutional amendment that requires voter approval for casino-gambling expansion and questions whether placing a card room in a new location triggers the requirement for a local referendum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Posted on: October 23, 2025, 03:44h.\u00a0 Last updated on: October 23, 2025, 03:44h. Bestbet sues regulators over Hamilton…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[14870,14871,28,14872,6046,30,29,14873],"class_list":{"0":"post-17835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-bestbet-holdings","9":"tag-flag-drop-races","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-florida-gambling-lawsuit","12":"tag-florida-gaming-control-commission","13":"tag-florida-headlines","14":"tag-florida-news","15":"tag-hamilton-downs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}