If Sanford Orlando Kennel Club

wants to add card rooms or poker tables, it would have to be approved by a majority of Seminole County voters rather than city leaders, according to legislation proposed by state Rep. Bob Cortes.

If the Sanford Orlando Kennel Club — which has long offered live greyhound racing at its Longwood facility — wanted to add card rooms or poker tables, it would have to be approved by a majority of Seminole County voters rather than city leaders, according to legislation proposed by state Rep. Bob Cortes.

“Card rooms and gambling have a regional impact outside of Longwood,” Cortes, R-Altamonte Springs, said Wednesday. “So it should be the voters in that region that have a say.”

Though there is no proposal now to add card rooms or other forms of wagering at the kennel club, the issue arose during this year’s Longwood election after a political mailer sent to thousands of homes claimed three commission candidates supported bringing casino gambling to the city.

The three candidates named in the flier — newcomers Abby Shoemaker, Richard Drummond and Matt Morgan — won seats on the commission Nov. 7. Suspicions arose after Morgan and Drummond each accepted $1,000 in campaign contributions in August from the Central Florida Greyhound Association.

Shoemaker, who did not receive a contribution from the dog track or the greyhound association, said she opposes “Las Vegas-style gambling” in Longwood. “I did not run for the commission so that I could bring gambling to Longwood,” she said.

Morgan, who could not be reached for comment, said during his campaign he would vote against any effort to bring additional forms of gambling into Longwood. Drummond, risk and safety manager for the kennel club, said during the campaign that he would recuse himself from any votes regarding the facility.

Mitch Cohen, the kennel club’s general manager, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The kennel club likely would face long odds in adding other forms of gambling. In 1996, Seminole voters approved a county charter amendment that would require a majority of voters to approve any new forms of “casino gambling” in the county.

But Cortes and supporters of his bill say the referendum was vague in whether the term “casino gambling” means card rooms, and whether the Longwood City Commission could solely approve card rooms at the dog track rather than letting voters decide.

“Because of the ambiguity of the language many would argue that three [Longwood] commissioners could approve” card rooms or other forms of gambling, said Cortes, a Longwood commissioner from 2009 until 2014.

He said every election year while he was commissioner, he was approached by representatives from the dog track asking about adding card rooms.

He also questioned whether card rooms would stay if the dog track stopped offering live greyhound racing at the facility.

“Any day they [greyhound racers] could pack up and leave and what happens to the card tables?” Cortes asked.

State Reps. Scott Plakon, RLongwood, and Jason Brodeur, RSanford, joined Cortes at a Seminole County legislative delegation hearing Wednesday during which they agreed to move the bill forward at the upcoming legislative session in Tallahassee.

“We’re not banning card rooms,” Plakon said. “This is to make it so that the voters get to decide.”