For 32 years, Prairie Meadows Racetrack & Casino in Altoona, Iowa took bets on international simulcasts, with officials there unaware they were breaking state law. The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission noted the situation last December, and state legislators passed a law allowing foreign bets, which took effect July 1.
The foreign races accounted for 5 percent to 10 percent of Prairie Meadows’ revenue, said Vice President for Racing Derron Heldt. He said state officials never questioned the bets before this year. Prairie Meadows has simulcast major horseraces from Saudi Arabia, Canada and Mexico, Heldt noted.
The racetrack’s president and CEO Gary Palmer stated, “We’ve done it for years, but I guess someone found an article that said we couldn’t do it. So we stopped it for a few months until they put in a bill and passed it.”
The situation came to light last fall when the Iowa Greyhound Park in Dubuque asked IRGC for permission to simulcast an event at Caliente greyhound park in Tijuana, Mexico. State officials investigated the Mexico track to assure it was properly licensed and treated racing dogs well.
IRGC Administrator Brian Ohorilko said the Iowa attorney general’s office found state law only referred to simulcasts from other states, with no mention of foreign jurisdictions. The attorney general’s office had not addressed the issue in the past, probably because the simulcasts did not happen often and were limited to Prairie Meadows. Iowa racetracks and casinos had to stop offering international simulcasts until July 1, when lawmakers legalized foreign simulcasts of horse and dog races.
Ohorilko noted the online platform TVG also is licensed to allow Iowans to bet on international races and Express Bet will receive its license soon.
State Rep. Mike Sexton told his colleagues he would amend the law next year if any evidence surfaces of abuses at the foreign tracks whose races are simulcast in Iowa. “I gave them my word,” Sexton said.
State Senator Claire Celsi said she voted against the legislation allowing foreign simulcasts because animal rights group objected to “using animals for human entertainment.” She added, “I hate gambling, period, especially racetracks. I can’t stand them.”
