A Brief History of the End of Greyhound Racing in Florida

In 2018, Florida banned commercial greyhound racing. Animal welfare advocates had been trying to do this for 10 years, but kept getting blocked by the greyhound breeders and gaming interests. They finally got a proposal on the ballot for the November 2018 election. The Florida Greyhound Association tried to stop it by saying the ballot wording was misleading, but they didn’t succeed. The ban was supported by the Animal Law Section, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, and the Committee to Protect Dogs. After a hearing, the court decided that Amendment 13 is flawed. The court looked at both sides’ arguments and decided that there were no important facts in dispute. The court said that it’s hard to remove a proposed constitutional amendment in Florida and the facts would need to clearly show that it’s misleading and defective. The defendants appealed the decision, and the court made a small change to the judgment. The plaintiffs and defendants asked for the case to be dealt with quickly. The Florida Supreme Court decided that Amendment 13, which would end dog racing in Florida, can stay on the ballot for the upcoming election. The court found that the amendment’s language was not misleading and did not conflict with any existing laws. They also ruled that the amendment does not affect other forms of gambling. Therefore, voters will get the chance to decide on Amendment 13 in the upcoming election. On November 6, 2018, Florida voters voted to ban commercial greyhound racing in the state. A large majority of voters said “yes” to Amendment 13, which will phase out all greyhound racing by 2020. This decision followed more than 10 years of efforts to stop the practice in Florida.

Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/a-brief-history-of-the-end-of-greyhound-racing-in-florida/