By Tony McVeigh / Angela Hatton
Frankfort, KY – It looks like the instant racing bill won't make it to the finish line this session. Senator Damon Thayer's bill cleared a Senate committee two weeks ago, but was sent back for major surgery and never re-emerged. Thayer says there's still a lot of confusion about instant racing.
"I think it is exactly the same as making a simulcast wager on a live race on TV. This is just a race that's been previously run on TV. I underestimated the effort of the Family Foundation to mischaracterize this as some form of casino gambling, because I don't believe it is."
Instant racing involves the use of electronic machines to wager on thousands of randomly-selected, previously-run horse races. Thayer still believes Gov. Beshear can institute instant racing through executive order, but any such action is sure to spur lawsuits from expanding gambling opponents.