Historic Racing, Florida International University partners with City University of Macau, No Casinos releases list of Legislative candidates signing anti-gambling pledge

One of the types of gambling expansion that Florida discussed during this year’s Legislative Session involved “historic racing”. Historic racing is a type of electronic gambling where bettors wager on real previous pari-mutuel races, from which the identifying information has been removed. This means that the wagering is primarily a game of chance, while viewing the end of a real race. Although not as fast as slot machines, they can still have several wagers in a minute. Florida is not the only state considering historic racing. According to the Austin American-Statesman, a State Representative in Texas has written to the Texas Attorney General, seeking an opinion as to whether the Texas Racing Commission has the authority to approve historic racing without specific legislative authority.
Miami Today has published a story about a partnership between Florida International University (FIU) and City University of Macau. The story speculates about a relationship in which FIU’s Hospitality and Tourism Management program may work with Macau’s large gambling and hotel industry.
No Casinos, a Florida based anti-gambling group, released a list of Florida Legislative candidates who signed the group’s anti-gambling pledge. The Tampa Tribune has provided the story and a list of those candidates. While most of the candidates are in conservative rural areas of the state, or in the Greater Orlando area where the existing tourism industry is strongly anti-gambling, I note that several of the candidates are from Miami-Dade or Broward counties. It is probably not a smart political move for candidates from South Florida (where support for legal gambling is strong) to have taken take this pledge.