News


Bill Seeks To Legalize Betting On Horse Racing In Utah
A new bill has been proposed to allow counties to vote on bringing pari-mutuel betting back to the state of Utah.

Bill Seeks To Legalize Betting On Horse Racing In Utah

SALT LAKE CITY, UT—FEBRUARY 19, 2019—According to an article by Bob Bernick and Bryn Schott published today (Tuesday) on the utahpolicy.com website, a bill sponsored by Sen. David Hinkins, R-Orangeville, will give Utah counties the option of allowing horse track racing and betting.

SB181 is more of a rural economic development bill rather than a pro-gambling bill, as horses raised in rural Utah are leaving the state to compete in live horse racing in surrounding states like Idaho and Wyoming, Hinkins said. He noted that Wyoming paid out more than $2.2 million in awards to state-breds just last year.

"When those horses leave, they’re hurting the feed supply stores and veterinarians who support the ranchers who raise them," Hinkins said. "Those areas are already losing jobs, so we should do what we can to keep those jobs there."

Under SB181, Utah counties would have to vote by the end of 2020 whether they would allow pari-mutuel racing and wagering. The state won’t get a cut of any of the wagering, and the taxes generated from the betting would remain in the counties where the races take place.

"A million dollars or so is a lot of money to some of these rural counties, but it’s just a drop in the bucket for our state budget," he said.

Another bill, HB361 proposed by Rep. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, would change the make-up of the Utah horse racing commission.

"We need to get more representation of the Quarter-Horse industry, and more businesspeople in general on the commission," he said about his bill.

While his bill doesn’t legalize pari-mutuel betting, McKell said supports horse race betting "100 percent."

"We are hindering a whole industry" by an outdated prohibition, he said.

McKell, an attorney, quoted a 1926 Utah Supreme Court decision saying that horse race betting is not a game of chance, but a skill, and thus legal under the Utah Constitution’s ban on "gambling."

The Utah Legislature banned horserace betting in 1927. Twenty-seven years ago Utah voters rejected a ballot initiative to legalize pari-mutuel betting, by a 60/40 margin.