The reason that Las Vegas has no horse racing tracks is that, when horses used to run there (it was legal once), they would faint and die from the intense heat and (relatively) high altitude. After several promising thoroughbreds met their demise there, Nevada banned all horse racing throughout the state. I guess the "logic" of having cardrooms at race tracks in other states like Florida and New Hampshire is, you can "trust" the race tracks to put on honest games (ha!!!) rather than taking your chances with a stand-alone cardroom or casino. Maybe the cardroom lobby is stronger in California: no poker games or slot machines at our race tracks.