Racing has a chance to become the bet on the Internet

It is just one sentence in an appropriations bill, but racing has a lot riding on how this line is eventually interpreted by Congress, the Department of Justice, and state governments.

On December 22, President Clinton signed an appropriations bill that included a hodgepodge of amendments to existing legislation. The actual bill, HR 5548, was an appropriations bill to fund the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2001.

Buried deep in the bill, under general provisions, was Section 629: "Amends the Interstate Horseracing Act to include within the definition of 'interstate off-track wager' pari-mutuel wagers placed or transmitted by an individual in one State via telephone or other electronic media and accepted by an off-track betting system in the same or another State as well as the combination of pari-mutuel wagering pools."

Acknowledgment of this right gives the ten states that presently allow account wagering the upper hand. Those states can establish telephone- or Internet-account wagering systems for their citizens to enable them to bet on races in another state by transmitting that wager into a pari-mutuel pool in another state.

It is not coincidental that the New York Racing Association recently took measures to stop taking bets of New Jersey-based customers who have telephone wagering accounts. New Jersey regulators believe that account wagering in the state is not legal. That would be in keeping with the interpretation of the Interstate Horse-racing Act of 1978 and the amendment passed on December 22.

Prior to the amendment passing, there were concerns by states and within the industry that the Department of Justice was interpreting the Wire Act of 1961 to prohibit the transmittal of a legitimate wager across state lines.

Only Connecticut, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oregon, and Pennsylvania have legalized telephone-account wagering. Those states now have the upper hand in being able to expand pari-mutuel wagering in their state. Citizens of those states will be able to legally place a bet via the Internet on a race in another state.

It is imperative that racing constituencies work on the local level to get enabling legislation passed to legalize account wagering in as many states as possible as quickly as possible.

Racing has a golden window of opportunity to be the legal bet on the Internet.

Shoved out

Racing allows you to meet a lot of interesting people. Participating in this sport or central to the sport are politicians, actors, sports figures, and heads of major corporations.

I am reminded of this when I read that Ohio State University's football coach was fired after losing a bowl game. Despite a record of 111-43-4, John Cooper was dismissed after 13 seasons because he could not beat the University of Michigan (his teams won only 2-of-13 against the Wolverines) and had a poor record in bowl games (won three, lost eight).

I met John Cooper in his first year at Ohio State. It was in October 1988 at the Darby Dan yearling trials, which showcased the coming two-year-old racing crop of the Columbus, Ohio, farm. A breakfast near the training track was held at the farm prior to the show, and then everyone went into a small grandstand to see the yearlings paraded past. The yearlings were given temporary names of some of the guests, to recognize some of the visitors.

Before the event began, Cooper was asked to address the gathering. Ohio State had won its football game the previous day, but here he was at 8:00 on a Sunday morning at a yearling show, testament to the Galbreath family's influence at Ohio State.

What I remember most about his talk was the prophetic joke that he told.

"When I first took this job," said Cooper, "I was met at the airport and flown by helicopter into town.

"On our way in, I said I was going to make someone real happy and throw a $20 bill out the door.

"The man sitting next to me said, 'Why not throw two tens out the door, this way you'll make two people happy.'

"Well, the man sitting next to him said, 'Hell, why not make everyone happy and throw yourself out the door.' "