Poker changes have been boon to Florida dog tracks

By KEN MA
Orlando Sentinel
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.
At least twice a week, Glenn Oshima heads to the dog track for some camaraderie and a chance at a payday.

In a year and a half of going to the Daytona Beach Kennel Club, Oshima has never bet on the lean, muscular dogs running around the outdoor oval track. For him and many others these days, the real action is inside an air-conditioned room behind the track, where he risks his money on Texas Hold 'Em poker.

Poker is "the only thing that gets my adrenaline flowing," the 50-year-old salesman and Daytona Beach resident said.

From TV shows to video games to the Internet, poker is hot. And Florida's dog tracks, which once appeared to be on their last legs, are cashing in - thanks to a recent change in state law to allow higher-stakes games.

Daytona's Kennel Club has become so successful drawing poker players to its aging venue that revenues from the card room are helping offset shrinking profits from greyhound racing. Daytona's success is typical of 13 greyhound venues in Florida that offer poker.

"A lot of people who used to play around the kitchen table are coming here," said Marcia Choquette, the Daytona Beach dog track's poker director.

During a five-year period, money wagered on live greyhound races at the Daytona track dwindled from $22 million in 2000 to $12.9 million in 2004, according to the Kennel Club's statistics. The track gets 25 percent of the money bet on live dog races.

By contrast, poker-room revenues at the track mushroomed during the same period, going from $707,895 to $3.4 million, statistics show.

Statewide, the total amount of taxes and fees the state has collected from bets on racing at dog tracks has plunged from $33.7 million in 1997 to $12.7 million last year - a 62 percent decline, according to statistics from the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, which is part of the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Although poker still is much smaller by comparison, the state's cut of the action at dog-track card rooms has climbed during the same period from $336,469 to $1,672,015 - an increase of 397 percent.

Industry officials say poker might keep dog tracks from fading into obscurity.

"It's bringing people back to what was a dying business," said Pat Biddix, president and general manager of the Melbourne Greyhound Park.

The state allows poker at jai-alai frontons and dog and horse tracks. The Melbourne and Daytona dog tracks are the only Central Florida locations with legalized poker.

Poker activity at both tracks exploded after state lawmakers two years ago relaxed rules that used to limit how the game was played at pari-mutuel venues. The 2003 law eliminated a maximum pot size of $10 and increased the bets to $2 with a maximum of three raises per round. A year later, the state allowed the venues to have poker tournaments, which pay out thousands of dollars.

The new poker law was sought by track proprietors who saw cruise ships and American Indian casinos taking away their customers.

Opponents, such as the anti-greyhound racing group GREY2K USA, were concerned that higher-stakes poker might prolong the life of dog tracks, which they thought were going out of business. Following the 2003 law change, players began flocking to dog tracks, which get a cut from each game.

Unlike the poker studs on TV who wear mirrored sunglasses and flashy clothes, the players filling Daytona's poker room are more likely to be dressed in T-shirts, shorts and baseball caps as they sit stone-faced at the oval-shaped, felt-covered tables.

A constant clink of chips fills the room, where there are no clocks, no pictures, but a slew of security cameras that watch every move players and dealers make.

Poker's success has spurred the tracks at Daytona and Melbourne to expand their card rooms. The Melbourne track increased the number of poker tables from 10 to 21 and hired an additional 100 employees to staff the games. Daytona anted up by boosting its card-room staff from 25 employees to 120 and the number of tables from 12 to 28.

Meanwhile, interest in dog racing continues to dwindle. Because of declining spectators, purses at dog races are getting smaller, meaning bettors are competing for less money. Gamblers are putting a majority of their greenbacks on broadcast races, national dog and horse stakes that offer larger takes.

Falling attendance forced two greyhound tracks to close their doors in the past decade.

While some animal-rights activists fear the rise of poker will keep the remaining tracks in business, others think it could inevitably lead to dog racing's demise.

Jennifer O'Connor, a spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, predicts the growth of poker will spur changes in state law to allow poker rooms to run independent of live dog races, making the tracks obsolete.

"As the population in entertainment shifts, the popularity of poker will supersede animal-based entertainment," O'Connor said.

That may not be a sure bet, but the dog tracks know that a growing number of gamblers such as Oshima, who was only lured to Daytona's Kennel Club after he became a fan of TV poker shows, are already picking cards over canines.