Gulfstream Park Sues Florida Over ‘Unconstitutional’ Decoupling Act
Posted on: August 8, 2025, 12:42h.
Last updated on: August 8, 2025, 01:25h.
- Lawsuit challenges Florida’s Decoupling Act as unconstitutional
- Gulfstream claims unfair licensing rules for live racing
- Critics warn threat to Florida’s thoroughbred racing industry
Gulfstream Park racetrack is asking a judge to block the Florida Gaming Control Commission (FGCC) from requiring it to run a full calendar of live racing as a condition of its slot machine licensing.
The lawsuit, filed in the Florida Supreme Court, argues the Decoupling Act, approved by the legislature in 2021, is unconstitutional because it violates the racetrack’s equal protection rights.
The legislation was enacted in the wake of Florida’s greyhound racing ban, a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2018. It allowed parimutuel facilities to “decouple” from their requirement to offer live harness racing or jai alai along with more lucrative gambling games.
Thoroughbred Carveout
A special carveout was made for the thoroughbred racing industry because lawmakers and stakeholders believed it remained viable and vital to Florida’s agricultural and tourism sectors.
But it wasn’t fair, according to Gulfstream Park, which argues the law favors competing gambling operators at its expense.
The lawsuit asks for a declaration that the Act was unconstitutional and an injunction to prevent the FGCC from suspending the track’s license if it pulls live racing.
This is a matter of fair and equal treatment under the law, which the Decoupling Act clearly and intentionally violates,” Marie Long, General Counsel for 1/ST, Gulfstream Park’s parent company.
“This is not about racing — we are committed to a sustainable future for racing,” she added. “It’s about our inability to compete with the private slot operators who don’t have to meet the same obligations we must meet to run our business, because they receive special treatment at our expense.”
‘Deeply Concerning’
Many believe that decoupling would sound the death knell for Florida’s thoroughbred industry, as it did for harness racing. The state’s last standardbred track, Caesars-owned Pompano Park, ceased live racing in 2022, less than a year after the legislation passed.
In a statement, Lonny Powell, CEO of the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association, called the lawsuit “deeply troubling.”
This lawsuit [is] about Gulfstream Park wanting to operate a casino without fulfilling their racing responsibilities,” Powell said. “The 2021 decoupling law was designed to preserve Florida’s core horse racing institutions. Gulfstream Park’s attempt to overturn it would open the floodgates; eroding Thoroughbred racing statewide, threatening family farms, rural jobs, and a multibillion-dollar agricultural economy.”
Gulfstream Park backed a bill this year that would have allowed it and the only other operational thoroughbred track in the state, Tampa Bay Downs, to decouple racing from their other gambling operations, but the measure failed to pass in the legislature.
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