Florida Stat~ Racing Commission
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nO'UDA STATE UBI?ARV Df Ib, FLORIDA STAT~ RACING COMMISSION ID Ib, HONORABLE FULLER WARREN GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1950 LEO EnwAlUlS, Chairman B. P. BEVILLE, Secretat] RALPH L. CRUM, Mnnb., PERCY O. CoRBIN, Mnnber Roy PATIENCE, M,mb., F351. 76s W131 GOVERNOR FULLER WARREN of Ih, FLORIDA STATE RACING COMMISSION 101h, HONORABLE FULLER WARREN . GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1950 LEO EowAWS, Ch.:irman B. P. BEVILLE, S,,,,I,,,, RALPH L. CJ.UI(, M.",b.,. PEJ.CV O . CoRBIN, M""b., ROY PATIENCE, M.",b.,. • HilExcrlJencyFullttWuten Governor of Florida TaUahu., F\orida Sir: Pursuant to and in complia.oce with the requirement rontained in Section }}0.02, suboectiOD 2, Florida Statute., 1941, as amended, the Florida State Raring CommissiOD submit! thi< it! Ninel<alth Anoual Re port for the period commencing July I, 1949 tn and including June 30, 19}0. Membership of the CDmmi5siOD from July I, 1949 to June 30, 19S0, con.isted of the following named persons and the CDngressiooal DUtrict from which they served: IWph L Crum, Lakelan"--__. ___ . __ First District B. " . Beville, GtUiesville Second Distrid Pel<f O. Corbin, Bl Third Distrid Leo Edwards, Miami Fourth DUtrict Roy Patience, Crescent City Fifth Distrid During the above stated period of time Leo Edwarda and B. P. Beville served as Chairman and Secretary of the Commissioo, respectively, and Manuel M. Garcia of Tampo. as Attorney for the CDmmi ..iOD . MEBTINGS During the period covered by thi. Anoual Report formal meetings were held by the Commission on the following dates and .t the following places: July I, 1949 - Jadcsonville, Florida August I}, 1949 - Miami, Florida October 14, 1949 - Miam~ Florida December 3, 1949 - Miami, Florida December 16, 1949 - Miami, Florida Deambu 30, 31, 1949 - Miami, Florida January 3, 19S0 - Miami, Florida January 17, 18, 19}0 - Miami, Florida January 27, 19}0 - Miami, Flnrida February 24-27, 19}0 - Miami, Florida March 27, 28, 19}0 - Miami, Florida April 19, 20, 19S0 - Miami, Florida May I}, 19)0 - Miami, Florida JlAONG DATES Raring dates ..ere granted the various Associatioo. and operaton of horse tC1Ck5, dog tw:la aod JIi Abi Frooton for the season beginning . October 29, 1949, and ending September 18, 19S0, as follows: 3 1- Winlff DdI,s DOG TRACKS (in order of openiog dates) Jacksonville Kenoel Club, Ine. 91 days-October 29th to December 17, 1949. Closed December 18th through December 2'th, and reopened December 26, 1949 to February 18, 19'0. Associated Outdoor Kennel Club, Inc. 91 days-November 14, 1949 to February 28, 19'0. Closed on Decccober 24th. Biscayne Kennel Club, loe. 81 days-Nov~mber 14th through December 24, 1949. Reopeoed April 11th through June I, 1950. Miami B~ Kenoel Club, loco 91 days-December D, 1949 to April I, 1950. Closed December 24th and December 31 , 1949. Broward County Kenoel Club, loco 91 days-December 26, 1949 to April 10, 19'0. West Flagler Kennel Club, loco 91 days-December 26, 1949 through April 10, 19'0. St. Petersburg Keonel Club, loc. 91 days-December 27, 1949 through April 11, 1950. Sanford·Orlando Kennel Club, loc. 91 days-December 28, 1949 to April 14, 1950. Closed January 2nd in order not to conftict with Tangerine Bowl football game in Orlando. Palm B.eacb Kennel Club, loc. 91 days-January 2nd to April 17, 1950. Sarasota Keonel Club, loe. 80 days-March 1st to June I, 1950. IN-ALAI Fron too Erlllbition Company 90 days-December 26, 1949 through April 8, 19'0. HORSE TRACKS Gables Racing Association, Inc. 41 days-November 30, 1949 to January 16, 1950. Sunshine Park Racing Associatioo '1 days-January 13th to March 14, 1950. Hialeah Race Course, Inc. 40 days-January 17th to March 3, 19'0. Gulfstrearn Park Raciog Association, loc. 41 days-March 4th to April 20, 19'0. 4 J DOG TRACKS Dnnse Parlt Kennd Oub, Ioc. 80 d.y.-AprjJ 7th to July 8, 19'0. Pensacola Kennel Oub. Inc. 91 day.-June 3rd to September 18, 19'0. (Oosed one day on account of stonn.) Volusi. County Kennel Oub, Inc. 91 day.-June 3rd to September 18, 19'0. (Oosed one day on ICcount of storm.) A rrENDANCE AND PLAY During the fiscal year covered by this report the eighteen operators subject to the supervision of this Commission operated a total of I,H7 racing or pl.ying days. Of this total numbet of days. the horse trades operated 170 days. dog trades 1,117 days and the Jai Alai Fronton 90 d.ys, and these activities attncted. total paid attendance of 4,H9,742 p.trons, who wasered $178,842,8'8.00. While thett wu a decrease iii attendance of 2.18% for all activities under the preceding 6scaI year, rari.mutuel wasering showed. slight in· crease of .377% over the prevIous year. Dog trades aod the Jai Alai Fronton aperienced both a decrease in attmdance and pari.mutuel wager· ing. while horse trades showed a slight increase in both attendance and wasering. This may be accounted for by the fact that greyhound racing and Jai Alai exhibitions operated 17 days less than the previous year, while hone trades operated 10 days mo~ and in addition thereto, the Commis sioo .uthori&ed and the horse trades cooducted more thoroughbred races than the previous year, as well as quarter horse races, whkh were author i&ed by the 1949 Legislature. We would also like to note that the general trend of attendance and pari-mutuel wagering in other statrs, as a whole. reftected • decrease. STATE INCOME FROM RACING The totaI revenue to the State for the current 60cal year from pari. mutuel wagering. .dmissionsand kindred lues aggregated S13,IOI,HI.89. which iJ & slight decrease of les.s than one per cent (.91'%) under the p_ious 6scaI year. As has hereinbefore been stated, that w.gering in· creased slightly ( .377 %) over the previous year, it would appear that the income: to the State sbouId also re8ect an increase. This is not neces.sariJy true, boca",. wagering did not incr.ea5e at all types of wasering events, and then, too, we experienced a general decrease in attendance of 2.18%. Pari· mutuel w.gering increased at hon.e trades (2.83%), but decreaoed at dog tncks (1.48%) and Jai Alai Frontoo (D.8%), as well as attendance de creasing at dog trades (1.92%) and Jai Alai FrontOD (14.3%), while _dance at hone: trades showed • slight increase of less than one per ceat (.372%). llICOfDe to the State iJ derived primarily from the Stat~ ' s commission 00 the ooIume of pari·mutuel wagering. but its income ftom admi ..ion tans is dependent upon the attmdance rather than the volume of wager· ing. In the present instmce. the decrnse in income to the State was mainly due to the provisions of law (Chapters 252H and 26334. Laws 1949). permitting the Pensacola Kennel dub (dog track) and Suruhin. Park (horse track) to pay a flat daily license fee of $'00.00 and ....000.00 . respectively. in lieu of the existing '% commission at dog tndts and 8% at horse tndts of the pari-mutuel sal ... which resulted in the Slate receiv ing $211.'00.00. rather thin $431.109.37 which the State would have normally received. This rdIocts a reduction in income to the State of S219.609 . ~7. but the State. however. still benelited without reduction on income from admissions and other miscellaneous taxes at these two track.s. Both of these tndts had been experiencing Iinancia1 distress and loss and the Legislature saw lit to enact the flat daily Ii"'.... fee law in order to lceep the tracks in existence and o~rating and thus realize .some revenue (rom pari-mutuel wagering, admiSSions and other tues, which would have been completely lost to the State upon the fail= of such track.s to con· tinue operations under the existing percentage commissions. Of the aggregate amount of income received by the State during the period coveted by this report. only 2.12% was ~ded by this Commi.· sian in connection with its year-round activities m carrying out uad en forcing the provisions of the State racing laws and its rules and «gulations. The average administrative cost for controlling and supervising racing and the collecting of,the State's revenue has, for the past nineteen yean. ..uc aged approximately 4%. It can readily be seen that revenue derived from this source compares most favorably with any other State revenue. iruofar as ~nse of collection. supervision and policing may be concerned. The various licensed operators received. as their share from pari mutuel wagering. '17.225.898.49. aclusive. however. of income derived from concessions. parking. admission sales. etc .• and there was distributed to the public as awards from winning pari-mutuel tickets $149,144,482.00. which amounts reBect slight inaeases oVer the previous year. Each of the 67 couobes in this State received. a.s their proportionate sbare. $82.400.00. which is an eqUJ.! amount as received by each county in the previous y.ear and is greatly in excess of the $33.000.00 guaranteed to each county by law. There was paid into the Old Age Assistance Fund the sum ot $7.111.124.78. as its share of income from racing. which amount reflected a slight decrease of 1.8% under the previous year. o.tailed ligures and statements covering the current liscal year ..., hereafter inclucfed in this report.