Idaho’s gaming tribes are calling the faux slot machines that offer “instant racing” in the state’s racetracks illegal and demanding that Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter shut them down.
The tribes, including the Coeur d’Alene, Kootenai, Shoshone-Bannock and Shoshone-Paiute tribes, claim the machines do not use pari-mutuel wagering, the only form of horserace wagering allowed in the state.
The legislature passed “instant racing” two years ago as a way to revive the state’s moribund horse racing industry. But they are also offered at the Greyhound Park and Event Center in Post Falls. The tribes call this proliferation illegal.
Unlike an actual pari-mutuel wager, the machines do not show current races, but rather the end of an historical horse race.
Doug Okuniewicz, general manager of the Greyhound Park said the tribes are being hypocritical. “The entity that says it is not subject to any state regulation now wants to ask that same state to use its regulatory authority to put the regulated entity out of business so the unregulated entity can have a monopoly,” he said.
Chief Allan of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe called the games a “hoax.” “All you have to do is go play them and ask yourself if you are actually betting on a horse race,” he said. “It’s a hoax that has consistently been found illegal in other states and these machines will continue to make a mockery out of the law until Idaho does something to stop it.”
Indian gaming, which employs slot machines at tribal casinos, is a $1 billion market in the state.
