The first real documentation of a Florida poker boom: Card room revenues are up 35 percent.

According to numbers from the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, poker rooms at pari-mutuels garnered about $11.3 million in July. In June they took in about $8.4 million.

True no-limit poker in Florida started July 1, allowing big-money players to sit down with whatever amount they want. Previously, there had been a $100 limit on buy-ins for cash games. The state also OK'd more poker hours at horse tracks, dog tracks and jai-alai frontons. After July 1, they could go as long as 18 hours on weekdays and 24 hours on weekdays. Before that, they could offer poker only 12 hours a day.

Here are the numbers

Palm Beach Kennel Club: $1,153,314 in July, up from $759,827
The Isle Casino and Racing: $1,099,886 in July, up from $797,462
Magic City Casino: $632,108, up from $418,787
Gulfstream: $428,353, up from $273,593
Mardi Gras: $413,632, down from $434,233
Calder: $315,609, down from $349,264
Dania Jai-Alai: $137,778, down from $144,946

The bigger rooms -- Palm Beach Kennel Club and the Isle -- report more and bigger play, and say the hours increase is almost as key as the uncapped change.

"A very nice month," the Isle's Mike Smith said.

"Great results," Palm Beach Kennel's Noah Carbone said. "We have more larger limit games then expected."

Gulfstream had been hampered because its three closest competitors all had 24-hour poker: the Hard Rock, Calder and Mardi Gras (the last two because they had two pari-mutuel permits... it's a long story).

Not surprising that Calder and Mardi Gras dropped because they had to give up some hours, and presumably the business went to Gulfstream.

But it's not all bad, Mardi Gras' Wil Herrera said.

"When you take into account the 18% loss of hours, we were actually up 16% (based on total drop divided by hours). We are also up over July 2009, so we are still trending upwards."

We don't have the numbers from the Seminole card rooms -- they don't have to spill their revenues to the state -- but anectodally, there also seems to be a boom there, with pots often soaring into the thousands of dollars, instead of mere hundreds.

Card rooms make their money by pulling few chips from each pot on each hand. For example,, they'll pull $2 from a $20 pot, with a max of a $5 rake for pots of $50 and over.