Ky. anti-gambling group against Instant Racing

The Family Foundation of Kentucky, which is opposed to gambling, has reportedly asked to intervene in Franklin Circuit Court in its case involving the introduction of Instant Racing machines at racetracks in the state. The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission last month approved changes in its rules that would allow Instant Racing in that the games are of a pari-mutuel nature. The Commission, the state Dept. of Revenue, and the eight racetracks in the state—including The Red Mile, Thunder Ridge and Player’s Bluegrass Downs—then asked the Court to rule on the legality of the machines.

Instant Racing machines allow a player to wager on previously run horse races which are selected at random from a data base of hundreds of thousands of races. The Family Foundation of Kentucky senior policy analyst Martin Cothran was quoted as saying that the Commission’s approval of Instant Racing was “a back-door attempt to do what the gambling industry failed to convince legislators to during the last General Assembly session: allow wealthy horse tracks to bypass the Kentucky Constitution.”

The Franklin Circuit Court has scheduled a hearing on the matter for 9 a.m on Sept. 1. The Racing Commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing on Instant Racing at 10 a.m. on Sept. 29 at The Red Mile.

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