gaming

The Nebraska horse racing industry, which has struggled for years to offer competitive purses, got a major boost Tuesday when voters overwhelmingly approved three constitutional amendments that legalize casinos at the state's racetracks. In other gambling related matters on the ballot across the country Tuesday, Marylanders voted in favor of legalizing sports betting in the state and voters in South Dakota approved sports betting, which would be restricted to the town of Deadwood, which already has a casino. In Louisiana, 55 of 64 parishes approved sports betting, including the four...

The Oaklawn Park casino has been given the green light by Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson to resume operations May 18. During his press briefing May 7, Hutchinson announced that the state's three casinos can reopen, but only at one-third capacity and that stringent social distancing requirements will be in place. Oaklawn's casino has been closed since Mar. 16 and the shutdown had started to affect purses. Under the worst-case scenario, the casino would be closed for an extended period of time and purses would have to be reduced at the...

Much has been said and written about racing's opportunity during the coronavirus pandemic to capture wagering dollars typically directed towards sports betting or spent in casinos, and I'm happy to report that two of my closest friends have done their part in contributing to handle over the past month or so. Neither are complete rookies, but they don't regularly bet races. We actually started betting horses at the same time--early in our college careers, but they never got hooked on the sport like I did. They've been to Saratoga, will...

Purse contract negotiations between the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (ITHA) and Arlington Park remain deadlocked three weeks after missing a state-mandated deadline to have one in place for the 2020 meet. Despite the issue taking center stage with 90 minutes of testy back-and-forth debate at Tuesday's Illinois Racing Board (IRB) meeting, the two sides appear no closer to bridging the gap, which chiefly hinges on a daily average purse figure of $130,000 versus $200,000 for the 68-date, May-through-September meet. IRB chairman Jeffrey Brincat did underscore on Tuesday that the horsemen...