pari-mutuel wagering

Bill Finley's report (Week In Review) in the Feb. 9 edition of TDN on NYRA's action to restrict wagering on its Pick 5 and Pick 6 wagers by computer-assisted wagering (CAW) players caught my attention, as does any article written on this form of wagering, which I call computer robotic wagering or bots for short. My experience with the bots and their very smart and well- capitalized owner managers goes back 20 years or so. Then, as now, my opinion on wagering by the bots is that over the long...

A vote on the fate of historical horse race (HHR) gaming in Kentucky by the full House of Representatives could come as early as Thursday after lawmakers Wednesday morning continued to fast-track the "emergency" Senate bill to legalize the slot machine-like form of betting by defining "pari-mutuel wagering" to include previously run races. About 17 hours after SB 120 passed the full Kentucky Senate by a 22-15 vote, the proposal sailed through the House Licensing, Occupations and Administrative Regulations Committee Feb. 10. Representative Adam Koenig (R-Erlanger), who chairs that committee,...

Turfway Park's new grandstand and historical racing machine (HRM) facility won't get built until the state of Kentucky clears up the ambiguity surrounding the apparent illegality of that form of video gambling, which contributes tens of millions of dollars annually to purses in the state. That news was delivered by Bill Carstanjen, chief executive officer of Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), in an Oct. 29 third-quarter earnings call with investors. CDI, a gaming corporation with six Thoroughbred tracks in its portfolio, acquired Turfway last year and soon thereafter embarked upon a...

In a unanimous decision announced Thursday that could result in a large cuts to purses in the state, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that Historical Horse Racing (HHR) Machines do not qualify as pari-mutuel wagering and are therefore illegal under state law. The decision directly covered only one form of the machines, the Encore or Exacta system, but it appears that it will be applied to all forms and brands of HHR. The plaintiff in the case was the Family Trust Foundation of Kentucky, a conservative group which describes itself...

With only a handful of tracks still racing due to the coronavirus, wagering on the sport took a huge hit in the month of March, falling by 22.58% over 2019 figures. A total of $731 million was bet during the month, a $214 million drop from 2019 figures. The numbers were released Friday by Equibase. "Obviously, it was a tough month," said NTRA President and CEO Alex Waldrop. "As damning as these number appear, the No. 1 priority right now is the health and safety of our employees. We're like...