In the last decade, about two dozen bills have been introduced in the Wyoming legislature related to gaming, including bingo, skill machines pari-mutuel betting and pull tabs. Only the racing bills—seven of them—became law. The state didn’t legalize a lottery until 2013, after 43 other states beat it to the draw.
Many are concluding that gaming has become a bit too free, easy and lawless even for a state that values a minimum of government interference, and the best way to unleash its economic power is to give it respectability and consumer protection.
Just three weeks ago, the Joint Committee of Travel, Recreation and Cultural Resources voted to give up on the attempt to create a commission. Then, early last week, the legislature’s Management Council persuaded the committee to revive a bill that would create a commission to oversee poker games, horse racing, games of skill and possibly even sports betting if that becomes legal in the state.
Senate Vice President Ogden Driskill authored the bill that only a few weeks ago was considered dead for this session. Driskill’s motion was to form a task force to examine the expansion of the Pari-Mutuel Commission to regulate other forms of gaming.
He told GGB News: “If you look at gambling nationwide, states that haven’t put regulation in place end up with huge problems. Really, gaming has come to a fork in the road. One fork is consumer protection and fairness. Where do you go if you’ve been cheated?”
Opposing the task force is Rep. David Miller, co-chairman of the Travel, Recreation and Cultural Resources committee. He was quoted by the Casper Star Tribune as saying that the evolution of gaming is too big for state control. “To start a government bureaucracy … is a rabbit hole I don’t want to go down,” he said. “It can get really big if we’re not careful.”
Order from Chaos
Byron Oedekoven, director of the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police, represents about 2,000 law enforcement officers in the state. His organization has come out in favor of Driskill’s legislation because it may help bring order out of the chaos that is Wyoming gaming. And it will make sense from a law enforcement perspective.
In an exclusive interview with GGB News he said, “Our organization is in favor of the bill. Remember, almost all forms of gambling are illegal in Wyoming, except for bingo, pull tabs, Calcutta wagering and pari-mutuel.
“Historical horse racing machines are statutorily allowed if they follow all the rules and regulations of pari-mutuel and deal with historical horse racing.” It’s allowed specifically to benefit live horse racing, added Oedekoven.
He said gambling is allowed “within a bona fide social arrangement,” such as a group of friends having a poker game together. “But not in a gambling palace, and no paid dealers. Once we know each other, we can cut cards.” Class II gaming is not allowed, he added.
In that general restrictive gaming atmosphere, “We now have probably three different styles of new video gaming terminals that are popping up, some of which are illegal because they don’t exercise a degree of skill,” said Oedekoven. “The state attorney general [Peter Michael] last year ruled that the first series are actually illegal slots and illegal on their face.” That affected about 300 machines, which Michael said were games of chance and not skill games.
But there’s a new kind of video gaming terminal that has not yet been identified as fitting a particular niche of legality. “Not all law enforcement has the skill, the expertise or the budget to do the forensic review to determine if they are skill or chance games.” That’s where a gaming commission could be particularly helpful, he says.
“The commission, depending on the how it is crafted, would have the authority statewide to look at these (machines), where currently it falls to the 23 counties and 65 cities to look at state statutes and determine if there is a crime being committed or not,” he told GGB News.
The proposed law “would make that immeasurably easier,” he said. A gaming commission “would bring the gaming questions to a single point for investigation and determination, rather than have it spread across the state.”
However, his organization won’t lobby for the law, he said. “We are viewed as expert witnesses and answer questions, we are not actively lobbyists for or against. We provide fact sheets and it’s up to the them to decide. Everything that is legal in Wyoming, the legislature created. If you want to do the gaming commission, do it right, staff it with proper peace officers able to carry out its function. If you are unable to do any of those pieces, then please don’t do it.”
An Economic Gateway?
An example of how the political climate has changed to become more welcoming to a gaming commission comes from Wyoming Horseracing LLC, which operates two racetracks in the state.
Originally it opposed a gaming commission “because we didn’t see the need,” spokeswoman Laurie Urbigkit told GGB News. “It originally started with a discussion of pull tabs, bingo and light poker games. But things have changed now, with the proliferation of new machines and the possibility of sportsbook.”
Wyoming Horseracing LLC jumped on board the last legislative session, she said. “We have no problem with it now. We are heavily taxed. We have been regulated for 40 years. As long as others are treated the same, we think a gambling commission makes perfect sense.”
While she doesn’t claim to speak for the whole horseracing industry, Urbigkit said, “We represent what’s best for the industry as a whole.” It’s an industry that, at least in Wyoming, is bucking a national trend and expanding, in part due to money generated by historical horseracing machines in 17 locations in the state.
“From the track owners to the operators to the farriers to the breeders, the equine industry is blossoming and blooming. And we are pretty proud of that. It’s not easy, and it was not an easy sell” to bring in the machines to supplement racing income, she said.
Mayor Marion Orr of Cheyenne, the state capital, supports a gaming commission because of the economic gates that it might open for her city.
In an exclusive interview with GGB News, Orr noted that the state has three top economic drivers. The first is the extraction industry—oil and coal. Tourism is second. Agriculture is third. It’s tourism that she has her eye on.
“Prior to being mayor, I was a lobbyist or over 15 ears, representing hospitality and tourism,” the mayor said. She would like the city to form a district in historic Cheyenne with casinos that would harken back to the Old West. “We have a pari-mutuel commission for horseracing. It’s interesting that I can gamble on the Kentucky Derby but it’s illegal to do it for the Super Bowl. We have a lottery. It think it’s time the state formed a gambling commission.”
She added, “If we were able to have local control, I could envision taking it out to the local voters, seeing about forming a district in historical Cheyenne for gambling, table games, and a casino-type atmosphere on a regulated basis.”
The mayor hopes to create an interest among local businesses rather than acting in reaction to a demand. “We haven’t had any businesses show an interest so far, but I know certain folks would act if there was an interest. In downtown Cheyenne one of our prime corners has a building that’s been vacant for 30 years. If casino gaming was regulated, I would have no trouble filling that vacant building.”
When GGB News spoke to Mayor Orr, the city had just finished hosting Frontier Days, which takes place the last few days in July. Cheyenne is on the crossroads of two interstate highways. It attracts about 500,000 people into the community (yes, you read that correctly) for those 10 days, which includes the world’s largest outdoor rodeo. “Absolutely having a casino would be a draw during Frontier Days,” said the mayor.
The Loyal Opposition
But not everyone is sold on a commission. Several weeks ago, lobbyists for the skill gaming industry initially opposed the concept, arguing that it was like putting one industry in charge of regulating its competition.
Pari-Mutuel Commission Executive Director Charles Moore told lawmakers there have only been internal discussions among his six full-time staff members and contractors about expanding.
That’s the reason that Rep. Tom Walters has proposed an alternative, putting the Wyoming Lottery Corp. in charge of other forms of gaming. He told GGB News, “I don’t think the Pari-Mutuel Commission is the right group. They have a conflict of interest. I think there’s a way to use the Wyoming Lottery Corp., but it would take altering the law. But I think I could make it happen.”
Walters, who is a rancher in Natrona County, argues that the Lottery Corp. is already dealing with games of chance and is well-equipped for the job. “It would fit their bailiwick and allow the state to keep an arm’s length from formalized gambling. The Lottery Corp. is a quasi-governmental entity. The state just collects the revenue from it.”
Walters first brought up this idea in the last legislative session. “I’ve talked to them and they felt like it was something they could take on handily. The Pari-Mutuel Commission was very hesitant.”
He is doing some politicking to try to put his idea before the task force. “I have a phone call to Driskill to make it part of it. I’m hoping the task force would look at it as one alternative.”
Cowboy Skills LLC (formerly Wyoming Skills LLC), whose games are all skill-based, wants to at least have a discussion before it is put under the regulatory arm of an expanded Pari-Mutuel Commission.
Jimmy Orr, spokesman for Cowboy Skills (and also the husband of the Cheyenne mayor) told GGB News, “Cowboy Skills LLC is very interested in the legislation. For Cowboy Skill games, we have a unique situation, as our games are different than others. Our games are bona fide games of skill rather than chance. Our entertainment product separates us from horse racing, lottery, pull tabs, bingo, slot machines and the like. Those games are all chance.”
Orr said the games, tested by an independent lab to conform with state law as games of skill, are located in service organizations such as the VFW and American Legion and at bars.
He added that the group is concerned that it will be lumped in with gambling. “Self-regulation is a critical part of Cowboy Skill games. We actively abide by state law. That means we have a compliance team that works with vendors, operators, and the law enforcement community. Every location must abide by our strict internal code-of-conduct. Any non-compliance can result in the removal of our terminals at any time.”
