Division of Pari-mutuel Wagering

OFFICE OF OPERATIONS

The Office of Operations has oversight responsibility of state personnel located at each of the 26 pari-mutuel facilities, and issues occupational licenses.

All persons who work at a racetrack, fronton, cardroom, or slot machine facility and who have access to money wagered, restricted areas, and/or racing animals, must obtain an occupational license issued by the Division.  During Fiscal Year 2006/2007, the Office of Operations, Licensing, processed 21,855 occupational license applications for businesses and individuals, of which 1,367 were related to the operation of cardrooms, 17,736 were related to pari-mutuel, and 2,752 were related to slot machine operations.  Each individual licensed with the Division is required to be fingerprinted every five years for pari-mutuel and cardroom occupational license; every three years for slot occupational licenses.  Each set of fingerprints are submitted electronically to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Federal Bureau of Investigation for processing.  The Department’s licensing system provides the Division the ability to issue pari-mutuel wagering occupational licenses on site. 

The Office of Operations, Licensing Section, is also responsible for the issuance of all pari-mutuel permitholder Annual Operating Dates Licenses, as well as Cardroom Operator and Slot Machine Licenses to authorized facilities.  

In addition to licensing, the Office of Operations is responsible for ensuring that the day-to-day operation of races and games are conducted in accordance with Florida's pari-mutuel statutes and rules. The stewards and judges monitor each race/game and conduct inquiries and hearings into alleged violations of the state pari-mutuel statutes and rules.  The stewards and judges issued 271 rulings, assessed fines totaling $35,425, and suspended 88 individual occupational licenses for alleged violations in Fiscal Year 2006/2007.

Operations’ staff collects urine and blood samples from racing animals which are analyzed for prohibited substances by the University of Florida, College of Veterinary Medicine’s Racing Laboratory.  The Racing Laboratory performs its services under an annual contract with the Division.  State veterinarians and veterinary assistants collected 87,570 samples that included: 67,926 greyhound urine samples, 19,644 horse urine samples, and 9,979 horse blood samples during Fiscal Year 2006/2007. There were 170 positive findings of impermissible substances in the samples collected.