Missouri may get pari-mutuel gambling

Clayton Bellamy

Thursday, April 12, 2001 | 10:10 a.m.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The state House has given initial approval to a bill designed to attract the horse racing that didn't come to Missouri after voters approved pari-mutuel betting 16 years ago.

By an announced 78-73 vote, lawmakers Wednesday endorsed a measure allowing tracks to offer year-round betting on races shown live on video monitors from other tracks nationwide. Current law allows such wagering -- called simulcasting -- only for as many days as a track holds its own races.

Rep. Wayne Crump, the sponsor, said tracks have not come to Missouri because they need more simulcasting than live racing. He said horse racing would help Missouri horse breeders and create jobs.

"The reason we don't have a track is because no one can make any money out of horse racing without simulcasting," said Crump, D-Potosi, who is also the House majority leader. "But the benefits to the state come from the live racing. You have to have both in combination."

Industry experts say simulcasting typically accounts for 80 percent of a track's income.

The measure awaits another House vote before going to the Senate, where a similar bill is pending. To pass the House, the bill needs 82 votes -- four more than it got Wednesday, when nine members were absent or did not vote.

Critics said the measure would expand gambling in Missouri. They portrayed simulcasting as betting in smoke-filled rooms.

"I don't think the voters would have approved horse racing if it had included year-round simulcasting, like this bill offers," said Rep. Charlie Ballard, R-Marshfield.

The bill would require license applicants to commit to holding at least 50 days of live racing a year and to investing at least $25 million in a racetrack in the first year.

A Canadian company, Magna Entertainment Corp., has committed to just such conditions in Missouri. A Senate committee considering a similar bill heard testimony Tuesday from Magna, whose U.S. holdings include the Santa Anita Race Track in southern California, Florida's Gulfstream Park and Remington Park in Oklahoma City.

Missouri voters approved pari-mutuel wagering on horses by a 60 percent majority in 1984, but the Legislature disbanded the racing commission 11 years later for lack of interest.

Under the House bill, the tax revenue generated from horse racing above what would be spent to regulate the industry would go to schools. House members spent much of Wednesday afternoon debating how schools could spend the funding.

Language adopted Wednesday provided for a $2 entrance fee for bettors. The proceeds, along with excess tax money, would go to a fund for new school construction.

No one could say how much money the entrance fee would generate, but "we're talking about a significant amount of money that will really help some schools out," said the provision's sponsor, Rep. James Froelker, R-Gerald.

The state would get a little more than 1 percent of the money bet on horses, or about $1.5 million a year in tax revenue, according to Magna's estimate.

Magna Entertainment has estimated that bets on live racing would total $18 million in Missouri, while bets on simulcast races would total $72 million. About $22 million more could come from bets made in other states on Missouri races, the company said.

The Missouri tax rate -- 1 percent to 1.5 percent on the first $100 million in bets -- is similar to the rate in other Midwestern states.