'This kind of behavior won't be tolerated' in Michigan

Michigan Gaming Control board executive director Rick Kalm told harnessracing.com in an exclusive interview Tuesday afternoon he is hopeful the ongoing investigation into alleged race fixing in the state can come to a quick closure. Last Friday, five horsemen were excluded from competing at Hazel Park and suspended from racing through the remainder of the year, bringing to eight the number of those suspended as a result of the investigation.

“We have an investigation ongoing. We’ve determined that we believe that there have been some races that have been tampered with,” said Kalm. “And there is a parallel criminal investigation ongoing also by the State Police, and we’re working together with them.

“So there are two sides, the regulatory and the criminal side. We thought it was important to move on the regulatory side prior to the completion of the criminal side because there is an integrity issue. I thought the best way to do this is to move as quickly as we can, get it done and root it out, and then move on. To have rumor and conjecture, and people lose confidence in betting on harness racing, that’s a much bigger issue.”

The race-fixing allegations first surfaced in early March which resulted in the suspensions of horseman Art McIlmurray and owner Haitham Shamoun, and the expulsion from racetracks by Saleh “Sam” Summa.

Horsemen Don Currier Jr., Don Harmon, Wally McIlmurray Jr., John Moody and Rick Ray were later subpoenaed to produce financial records for the past two years but at a hearing held May 20 they all failed to provide documents and instead invoked their Fifth Amendment rights to refrain from testifying. They were all subsequently suspended the following day.

Kalm said that more suspensions could be forthcoming as the investigation continues. Initial reports indicated that the Gaming Control Board was looking into upwards of 30 persons being involved.

“Their refusal to participate in the hearing isn’t necessarily an indication that they don’t want to bring this to a close themselves and cooperate,” he said. “At this juncture, they felt best not to say anything. But that’s a problem for us because a requirement of being licensed is to cooperate and turn over documents and things like that.

“With or without them, we’ll proceed. It’s like the bus is leaving, and you can get on it or you can put your head in the sand and pretend it doesn’t exist and not cooperate. The great majority of horsemen are good people and don’t want to get involved in (race fixing), so for the most part they are supportive of (the investigation). The last thing we need is a dark shadow hanging over this industry more than it already it is.”

« Back