A short one from the Florida District Court of Appeals (First District).
In D'Arcy v. Florida Gaming Control Comm'n, No. 1D21-3606 (May 24, 2023), the court held that the voters of Florida adopted Amendment 13 to the Florida Constitution that outlawed betting on greyhound racing (indeed betting all dog racing), it did not effect a Penn Central taking of the property of the owner of a greyhound racing business.
The trial court granted the state summary judgment, and the appeal court affirmed. The court also pointed out that the Amendment didn't ban dog racing outright, merely betting on dog racing. Slip op. at 3. The court focused on a single Penn Central factor, the "expectations" question and held that "given then heavily regulated field of gambling, D'Arcy did not have a reasonable expectation that the investment in dog racing could not be severely impacted by regulation." Id.
It is not surprising that reasonable investment-backed expectations “are greatly reduced in a highly regulated field.” Branch v. U.S., 69 F.3d 1571, 1581 (Fed. Cir. 1995). Given the extensive history of state regulation of gambling, it is not reasonable that D’Arcy had no expectation of future governmental interference with their property investments, as they as claimed. Because one of the factors of Penn Central may be dispositive of a takings claim as a whole, we affirm the grant of summary judgment on this ground. See Ruckelshaus v. Monsanto Co., 467 U.S. 986, 1005 (1984) (indicating that a single Penn Central factor may be dispositive of a takings case).
The court also held that the Amendment was a valid exercise of the police power, thus no taking:
The operation of Amendment 13 does not deprive racing dog owners of their property; it merely regulates its use. Thus, we also affirm summary judgment on the alternative ground that Amendment 13 was a valid exercise of police power, not eminent domain. Regulation of gambling does not constitute a taking as it is a well-established, valid exercise of police power.
Slip op. at 4.
You already know what we think of that argument.
D'Arcy v. Florida Gaming Control Comm'n, No. 1D21-3606 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. May 24, 2023) (per curiam)