[golfer]

Originally Posted by point given

Where to begin ? Any horse/dog racing facility in S.FL WITH SLOTS cannot have the ATMs on site by law. This was put in place by former Gov. BUSH and the anti gambling crowd. The purpose was to prevent gamblers from becoming addicts and spending money they couldnot afford to lose. SO, the law is having its desired effect and the track goes to its accountants and shows a drop in handle after the 6th race to back its claim. They had to figure early on in the slots war that "lets first get slots in, then we can deal with the ATM issue later when Bush is out" . Now, i dare say that the drop in on track handle is a rather minor concern here VS the loss in $$ they make on the slots. They continually use the horses to fuel what they want for the slots crowd and cater tothe slots crowd ,since that is where they make their money.

What I would like to see is for the Florida Horsemans Association to take this opportunity to push for some issues for the horse racing crowd, since the fans have no voice, but are only the customers.
1 - a permanent undercover grandstand, of say 500 seats, on the north side with free seating for racing fans who want to watch the horses run live from a seat with a view of the live racing instead of that joke of a temporary junior high school bleachers out in the melanoma sun.
2- free clubhouse seating for those customers who bet xxx amount ( called taking care of your core customers).
3 - more handicapped parking, The lot is always full and people have to walk long distances. Never been able to get in there and an 88 year old guy i sat with said the same, and also said he heard that casino/track employees take the handicap parking places.
4 equal treatment for race track and slots customers. ie - 10 palms restaurant buffet is $29.95 raceday and $16.95 after 7pm , slots time.

etc etc................

In Jacksonville, NE Florida, we do not have slots, we do have ATMs, and we have the "The Poker Room", which is absolutely packed from the moment it opens to the moment it closes every day! Poker and dog/horse racing are obviously "gambling", but we are not "protected" from ATMs! I cannot speak specifically about S Fl and Gulfstream.