A bill that could return historical horse racing video machines back to Idaho racetracks appears to have dim hopes.
Senate State Affairs Committee Chairman Curt McKenzie has promised to grant a hearing on the legislation that would create an Idaho gaming commission, which would have the authority to allow instant horse racing machines at its discretion.
“If a committee member has a bill, as a courtesy to them, I’d hold a print hearing if they requested it,” McKenzie said during a news conference. “Then whether it goes on or not, depends on whether it looks like there would be support for it to make it through the process. Right now it doesn’t look like it to me. And, I don’t even know if there’d be the votes to print.”
The Coeur d’Alene Tribe, which operates casinos in the northern part of the state, opposes allowing instant horse racing machines, claiming that they are too similar to slot machines.
Last year the legislature repealed a 2013 law that allowed the machines. Now lobbyists for the racing industry want to persuade the legislature to put them back.
Senator Patti Anna Lodge told reporters last week that she may be the only member of the Senate State Affairs Committee who will vote to send the bill to the full Senate. So far the bill has not been scheduled for a hearing. Mackenzie normally doesn’t schedule bills for hearings that he judges don’t have enough support to pass.
Senator Frank Martin is a definite no vote. He commented last week,
“The machines that they are proposing or they did install to me is unconstitutional.”
Lodge urged Idaho Horseman’s Coalition supporters to contact their representatives to try to get a hearing for the bill. She said that tribes have gaming machines and that racetracks should have the same right.
Lodge said she supported the survival of racetracks. “We had racing in Idaho when I was a young girl. It’s just the history, and it’s the western way of life.”
She added, “This is not a slot machine. We have a gaming commission that will be looking at the constitutional legality of these machines. This does not give historical horse racing a free ride. It has to go through the process before a commission that has the expertise to decide if those machines are legal or not.”
The bill would create a three-member commission with jurisdiction over tribal casinos and the state’s three racetracks: Les Bois Park near Boise, Sandy Downs racetrack near Idaho Falls, and the Greyhound Park Event Center in Post Falls.
Supporters say the extra revenue from instant horseracing machines is the only way for the industry to survive. A lobbyist for the group commented: “Live racing frankly does not pencil out.”
Since the machines were banned Les Bois has closed and some horse owners have moved their animals to California.
The Idaho Statesman quoted horse trainer Monty Arrossa as saying, “That proposal will keep Idaho horses in Idaho rather than going to states like California, Washington, or Wyoming for live racing opportunities.”
He added “This provision effectively limits the opportunity for terminals to three sites in the state — Les Bois Park in Garden City, Sandy Downs in Idaho Falls and Greyhound Park and Events Center in Coeur D’Alene, which is grandfathered under the current law.”
Legislation is needed to allow the machines, because the state constitution allows parimutuel wagering, but forbids “any electronic or electromechanical imitation or simulation of any form of casino gambling.”
