GERMAINE VALOIS, APPELLANT,
v.
GULFSTREAM PARK RACING ASSOCIATION, INC., AND AMERICAN TOTALISATOR COMPANY, INC., APPELLEES
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The court held that there is no contractual relationship between a pari-mutuel bettor and the racing association, and thus the bettor cannot recover for undelivered tickets.
[1] A parimutuel ticket is essential to a bettor's right to collect winnings from the parimutuel pool, and no valid wager exists without it.
[2] A racing association is not in contractual privity with a purchaser of a parimutuel ticket; the contract is between the bettor and other participants in the parimutuel po…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAppellant placed pari-mutuel bets but never received the tickets due to a machine malfunction. She sued for breach of contract, negligence, negligent …
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BERANEK, Judge.
Appellant seeks review of a dismissal with prejudice of her second amended complaint. We affirm.
Appellee, Gulfstream Park Racing Association, Inc., owns Gulfstream Park Racetrack, a parimutuel facility operating under Chapter 7E, Florida Administrative Code. The parimutuel machines located therein are owned, managed, maintained, and controlled by appellee, American Tota-lisator Company, Inc. The complaint herein alleges that appellant placed several perfecta bets for which she gave appellees either money or a previous winning ticket. Appel-lees, however, failed to deliver the tickets representing the bets placed by appellant. This failure was due to a malfunction in the parimutuel machine at the particular terminal appellant was using. Although the complaint essentially alleges a single set of facts, it seeks a recovery for breach of contract, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, and violation of a statutory duty.
There appears no Florida precedent in this area, and appellees urge that we adopt the New York view which holds there is no contractual relationship between the purchaser of a parimutuel ticket and the racing association. In New York the contract represented by the ticket is one between the individual bettor and the other participants in the parimutuel pool. See Holberg v. Westchester Racing, Ass’n., 184 Misc. 581, 53 N.Y.S.2d 490 (Sup.Ct., App.Term 1945). Under this theory, there was no contract between the parties in this case.
We note further that Rule 7E-6.07(4), Florida Administrative Code, specifically provides that “[p]ayment of winning parimutuel tickets shall be made only upon presentation and surrender of such tickets. No claims shall be allowed for lost or destroyed winning tickets.” This is also consistent with the New York approach that there can be no valid parimutuel wager without a parimutuel ticket which is absolutely essential to the bettor’s right to collect winnings from the parimutuel pool. See Carr v. State, 15 A.D.2d 709, 223 N.Y.S.2d 229 (3d Dep’t 1962); Bastone v. Yonkers Racing Corp., 79 Misc.2d 240, 360 N.Y.S.2d 149 (Sup.Ct.App.Term 1973); Hochberg v. New York City Off-Track Betting Corp., 74 Misc.2d 471, 343 N.Y.S.2d 651 (Sup.Ct.1973), aff’d, 352 N.Y.S.2d 423 (1st Dep’t 1974); Shapiro v. Queens County Jockey Club, 184 Misc. 295, 53 N.Y.S.2d 135 (Mun.Ct.1945). It is undisputed that appellant never had a ticket or a winning ticket. As such, appellees maintain that she had no right to demand payment. Although there is no controlling Florida case precedent, it appears the Legislature addressed the problem in a statute effective June 23, 1981. This new statute, Section 550.023, Florida Statutes (1981), provides as follows:
Limitation of civil liability. — No per-mittee conducting a racing meet pursuant to the provisions of this chapter; no member of the Florida Pari-mutuel Commission, division director, or employee of the division; and no steward, judge, or other person appointed to act pursuant to this chapter shall be liable to any person, partnership, association, corporation, or other business entity for any cause whatsoever arising out of, or from, the performance by such permittee, commission, director, employee, steward, judge, or other person of his duties and the exercise of his discretion with respect to the implementation and enforcement of the statutes and rules governing the conduct of parimutuel wagering, so long as he acted in good faith; however, the provisions of s. 550.07 shall not be affected by the provisions of this section. This section shall not limit liability in any situation in which the negligent maintenance of the premises or the negligent conduct of a race contributed to an accident; nor shall it limit any contractual liability.
We believe this statute will control future suits of this sort, but we refrain from any decision regarding its direct application herein because Section 550.023, Florida Statutes (1981), was never brought to the trial court’s attention, and for that matter, was not relied upon by the parties before this court.
We thus face the question of deciding this case as one of first impression for a very limited time. We construe Section 550.023, Florida Statutes (1981), as declarative of the existing public policy of this State and not as a change in the law. The statute obviously restricts and limits civil liability in this situation, and based upon the previously cited New York authorities and the public policy as contained in Section 550.023, we conclude the trial court correctly dismissed the complaint.
AFFIRMED.
LETTS, C. J., and DOWNEY, J., concur.
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Haynes v. Dep't OF the Lottery, 630 So. 2d 1177 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994)…s result finds support in a Florida case dealing with the subject of pari-mutual betting wherein the court denied recovery for the alleged failure to deliver a winning ticket due to a machine malfunction, Valois v. Gulfstream Park Racing Ass., Inc., 412 So. 2d 959 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982), and in foreign jurisdictions where recovery is uniformly denied to winning players who lose their tickets. See Karafa v. New Jersey State Lottery Commission, 129 N.J.Super. 499, 324 A. 2d 97 (1974). Appellants’ contention that…