In previous posts I’ve argued for a national body that would oversee all racing. I think the reasons are fairly obvious, but if you need more convincing, let’s go to Arizona.
Arizona has two main racetracks – Turf Paradise in Phoenix and Yavapai Downs in Prescott Valley. I’ve been to Turf Paradise many times. It is really a pleasant place to watch horseracing. And the quality of racing is pretty good during the middle months of the meet. They also have a good simulcasting schedule. However, in Arizona, there is no online wagering.
In fact, it’s more than just frowned upon, it’s at least a Class 1 misdemeanor (punishable by a maximum $2,500 fine and six months in jail) and potentially a felony, and felonies mean hard time. Arizona law does not allow any online gambling for financial gain or profit. Apparently if you bet to lose you have a potential defense.
When I’ve talked to the folks in Arizona, they speculate there are three reasons for making it a crime to wager on the internet. First, the Native-American tribes feel strongly about their exclusive casino franchises, and generally oppose anything that gives people betting options beyond having to show up in person at one of their casinos. That includes, slots, poker and horseracing. Second, it is a way to ensure the tracks handle all of the money bet on horses. Finally, Arizona has a large population of conservative religious types who generally find gambling immoral. And I can tell you, the state pretty much has horseplayers frightened to death on signing up for any online betting shop.
About 60% of the states allow internet wagering on horseracing. This is apparently because Americans do not have a constitutionally protected right to wager, and your home state has to decide if it wants to make it legal. You have to wonder about the framers of the Constitution when they called out gun ownership, religion and being able to write about any stupid thing that comes into your head in a blog, but ignored betting on horse races, something that had been going on for centuries by that time. Then again they also ignored such important things as drinking, football, and twittering. We tried banning drinking. Do you remember how that worked out?
I’m picking a bit on Arizona. At least they have horseracing. You could be in Utah or Hawaii where they don’t even allow a lottery, much less a real parimutuel track.
This is not anymore a moral issue than having a glass of wine with dinner or listening to rap music. In Arizona it is really about who should get the horseracing dollar, and if it isn’t going to Arizona, it’s going to be a crime. And as far as I am concerned, it’s as a crying shame.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”
—Declaration of Independence