Critics call it a gimmick, but state Sen. Greg Evers' decision to give away a semiautomatic rifle similar to a gun used in the massacre at an Orlando nightclub could be priceless.

Evers, running for an open Northwest Florida congressional seat in one of the state's most conservative districts, announced Monday morning on Facebook that he is giving away an AR-15 to a district resident who "likes" the social media post and shares it with others.

In a case that could have broad implications for the state's gambling footprint, a tiny horse track on Tuesday tried to convince Florida Supreme Court justices that it should have slot machines, even without the express approval of the Legislature.

Marc Dunbar, a lawyer and part-owner of Gretna Racing in Gadsden County, relied on a semantic analysis to try to persuade the justices that a 2009 state law gave the track permission to let voters decide whether slots should be allowed at the pari-mutuel.

Even if state regulators signed off on a popular type of card game years ago, that doesn't make the games legal, a Department of Business and Professional Regulation attorney told an administrative law judge on Wednesday.

The case involves Jacksonville Kennel Club, Inc. but could have wide-ranging implications for pari-mutuels throughout the state, most of which are hosting "designated-player" card games --- also known as "player-banked" card games. The games have eclipsed other poker games like Texas Hold 'Em among Florida gamblers, according to industry insiders.

Gambling regulators and a pari-mutuel operator at odds over the legality of popular card games, first authorized by the state more than four years ago, pitched their cases to an administrative law judge on Tuesday.

The issue involves "designated-player card games," also known as "player-banked card games," which include a hybrid of three-card poker and resemble casino-style card games but are played among gamblers instead of against the house.

Writing that the races were comparable to an "entry-level campers' horse show held at the conclusion of a two-week YMCA summer camp," an administrative law judge Thursday nevertheless found that state regulators lacked the authority to punish a tiny Hamilton County horse track for "flag drop" races held two years ago.

There wasn't a tie-dyed shirt to be found this week at a gathering in Central Florida where the buzz was all about the business of pot.
 
More than 3,000 people from across the nation and seven other countries swapped information about grow lights, soil nutrients and safes --- to stash money and products --- at the marijuana industry's premiere trade show. And the choice of Florida for the event was no accident.
 

A new law that protects five nurseries may have given more ammunition to "ganjapreneurs" seeking an entree into what could be one of the nation's largest medical marijuana markets come this fall.

Medical marijuana licenses given to two Northeast Florida nurseries by state health officials cannot be challenged by a grower who lost out in the application process, an administrative law judge ruled Monday.

But Judge R. Bruce McKibben left open the possibility for Loop's Nursery and Greenhouses to get a third license in the region.

Donald Trump didn't misrepresent his role in a beachfront project in Fort Lauderdale that went bust in 2009, a Florida appeals court has ruled.

Investors in the project have battled for years to get back hundreds of thousands of dollars in deposits from the real estate developer --- who's now the Republican presidential frontrunner, banking on his brand to boost him into the White House --- and his associates.

Gambling regulators and a tiny horse track in Hamilton County are at odds over whether a series of "flag drop" races two summers ago, which one former state official described as "a sham," constituted legitimate horse races.

Now it's up to an administrative law judge to decide whether Hamilton Downs Horsetrack should be punished for the races, in which some horses stopped midway down a dirt track, others threw their riders off and even more refused to start running when a red rag was waved.