The Jacksonville (Fla.) Times-Union said Terrence Bowman Davis, 36, left his 3-year-old and 7-year-old sons in his car while he ducked inside the poker room at St. Johns Greyhound Park to play a few hands of Texas Hold 'Em.
Davis estimated he was in the poker parlor about 15 minutes and said he left the car running and air conditioning on for the children, the newspaper said.
A passerby saw them and called deputies, who said the oldest boy told them where their father was, the Times-Union reported.
The boys weren't harmed in the incident.
Davis' case will be reviewed by the State Attorney's Office, which may charge him under a Florida law that makes it a second-degree misdemeanor to leave a child unattended in a car for any period of time if the motor is running.
"I'm just very, very remorseful," Davis said in the newspaper article.