HORSE RACING
Law’s death causes lower purses, higher angst
By Neil Milbert Special to the Tribune
The purse accounts of economically struggling Illinois horsemen, commissions for the five racetracks and state revenue all are taking a hit because the law permitting advance deposit wagering wasn’t renewed during the lame-duck session of the General Assembly before it expired Jan. 1.
According to Marc Laino, executive director of the Illinois Racing Board, the state is losing about $5,000 per day in parimutuel tax revenue; the collective total for lost purses for the thoroughbred and harness horsemen at the five tracks is $10,000 per day; and collective track commissions are down $9,200 per day.
“State revenue from ADW funds 28 percent of our (board’s) budget,” he said Tuesday. “There also is a daily loss of $18,000 in ADW operator fees.”
The law permitting ADW in Illinois went into effect Aug. 26, 2009. It allowed Illinois residents to establish an account with any of the four providers via credit card or cash deposit at an affiliated racetrack. Customers then could bet on races not only at Illinois tracks, but also at out-of-state tracks just as they can on the full-card simulcasts at the tracks and off-track betting parlors.
This law expired July 1, but the General Assembly renewed it for another six months.
In December, the IRB sent a letter to the four ADW companies operating in the state — Arlington Park affiliate Twin- Spires.com ; Hawthorne Race Course affiliate Xpressbet.com ; Balmoral Park and Maywood Park affiliate BetZotic.com ; and Fairmount Park affiliate TVG.com . — alerting them to the impending deadline and that if the legislature didn’t renew the law, the IRB couldn’t re-license them and they would have to stop taking bets Jan. 1. Compliance was sporadic at first.
TwinSpires and Xpressbet stopped taking bets Friday but still may be penalized.
Laino and the tracks and horsemen are hoping the spring session of the General Assembly addresses an ADW extension when it convenes in February.
The tracks and horsemen want some alterations in the law.
“We’re asking for a new ADW law,” said Balmoral general manager Jim Han-non, director of simulcasting at Balmoral and May-wood. “The sunset provision was put in so we could look at (it) and if there was a problem then try to fix it.
“There is a problem. Betting at racetracks and OTBs has declined dramatically since ADW came in. It hasn’t created new customers; it has transferred old customers to ADW.
“We feel the current ADW law is inadequate because it doesn’t take care of the primary stakeholders (the horsemen and the Illinois tracks). When Illinois account holders make bets on races in other states (unlike at the tracks and OTBs), none of that money goes back to the Illinois tracks and the horsemen. Only the ADW company gets a commission.”
The horsemen agree.
“Last year $122 million was bet through ADW, and horsemen’s purses only received about 3 percent,” said Anthony Somone, executive director of the Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association
