In an effort to reform their state’s gambling industry, Florida is working on several fronts towards clarifying and changing many of the rules that govern betting in the Sunshine State. One section of attention is on pari-mutuel wagering: the betting that goes on at the state’s race tracks and frontons that are jai-alai their state. But industry insiders state that the very first draft of rules that have been proposed by state regulators just will not work.

Workshop to Hammer Out Wagering Rules

Those rules will ultimately be discussed at a workshop with the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering on October 16, but were first released in a draft type final week. The guidelines are designed to stop a number that is growing of practices that are clearly outside of what the state intends to enable at such venues. And while a few of these new rules work, those within the industry say that numerous simply show that regulators aren’t familiar enough with Florida’s gambling industry to create such sweeping changes.

‘Some of those sound right,’ said Ken Stirling, executive director of the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and defensive Association. ‘ a number of them haven’t been thought out really well. One or two are pretty silly.’

One of many big areas covered in the draft rules is horse racing regulations designed to eradicate racing that is non-standard. Many in the industry consent that this is a good clear idea, as ‘barrel racing’ and ‘flag-drop’ race were seen by some operators in order to cheaply make payments that may also permit them to provide card spaces or slots alongside those events.

The latest rules would help put a conclusion to such practices. They’d bar ‘the rushing animal to change course in reaction to any obstacles in the surface that is racing and make certain that jockeys conform to uniform and weight needs that couldn’t be an issue for legitimate racing operations.

Disagreement Over Acceptable Race Lengths

But the regulations don’t stop there, and that’s where some feel that the rules go wrong. According to Stirling, some of the guidelines could devastate the racing industry if they aren’t changed.

For instance, the regulations that are new require that all races have reached least six furlongs in total something which might create sense in the event that you’ve only seen the Triple Crown races or the Breeder’s Cup, but which makes no sense for the industry all together.

‘[The guideline that] no competition must be shorter than…six furlongs…is a killer,’ Stirling said, noting that such races would be too long for two-year-old horses racing in the summer. ‘That’s silly. We run infant races at 4.5 furlongs and we’ve been doing it for a 100 years. I know they are in Tallahassee, but we’ve these plain things called phones.’

He additionally objected to a rule that states that each and every battle must have at the least six horses a guideline that could cause races become canceled because of minute that is last.

Jai-Alai would be affected by the regulations that are new. For instance, each place could be required to have eight players that are certified rotation. This rule comes in response to a debate at Ocala Poker and Jai-Alai, which started the 2012 period with just two players.

While there may be problems with the rules, unit director Leon Biegalski says there shouldn’t be a nagging problem, and that the workshops are made to help iron out these problems using the industry’s help.

‘They’re draft rules. They’re a point that is starting. You want to make sure that most of the license holders and all sorts of the stake holders are on the same web page in terms of just what the regulation is that’s out there and what should be out there,’ Biegalski said.