Horse racing community thrives on instant racing; tribes want it banned

Four Idaho Indian tribes asked Gov. Butch Otter and Attorney General Lawrence Wasden to stop historic horse racing, but the horse racing community said it needs it to survive.

Historic horse racing is a slot-like machine that allows people to bet on numbers that represent horses in a past horse race. Betters can watch the full race or just the last few seconds.

The Coeur d’Alene, Kootenai, Shoshone-Bannock and Shoshone-Paiute tribes believe the machines are illegal and don’t employ pari-mutuel wagering, which was legalized by the Idaho Legislature in 2013.

The tribes letter stated that “Indian gaming was authorized for the specific purpose of allowing Indian Tribes and their members to overcome epidemic levels of unemployment and abject poverty.” The tribe added that it “finds it hard to understand how the State can allow this undisputed socioeconomic progress to be jeopardized by this new form of casino gaming.”

Jim Bernard, the manager of Intermountain Racing, said historical horse racing machines are needed to save actual horse racing.

“Right now, states are going one way or the other,” said Bernard. “Either it’s disappearing or they’re going to measures like this, and it’s really thriving.”

Bernard said historic racing is already boosting purses for live racing at Sandy Downs in Idaho Falls as well as creating jobs. He also said it’s completely follows the guidelines of the bill passed in 2013. He said the money bet at the Double Down Restaurant & Simulcast Facility in Idaho Falls is pooled with betters in Boise and Arkansas. He added that the archive of past horse races runs into six figures.

“They’ve taken pari-mutuel horse wagering, used a lot of great technology to put bells and whistles and dress it up like a slot machine,” said Bernard.
“At the end of the day it’s pooled money, it’s horse racing.”

In their letter, the tribes said there’s now no limit on the “number of counties in Idaho that can have these Instant Racing casinos.”

Bernard argues the law will likely keep that from happening. Sandy Downs, Les Bois Park in Boise and Greyhond Park & Event Center in Post Falls are the only authorized simulcast facilities in the state.

“You have to run a racetrack to make this happen,” said Bernard. “I don’t see that people are going to pop up, start building race tracks and doing this everywhere.”

In any case, the tribes believe the historical horse racing machines are just too similar to slot machines, and that they “must be stopped.”

Mark Brown, a horse owner, breeder and trainer, said the machines will not only save the sport, but grow it by leaps and bounds. He said historical horse racing isn’t comparable to a slot machine.

“It’d be like a Texas Roudhouse saying they can’t bring an Olive Garden in,” said Brown. “Well they’re both restaurants, but they’re selling different products.”