West Virginia and Louisiana filed an injunction against the agency in July, keeping the act from being fully implemented while federal proceedings continued.
The federal Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act’s anti-doping program went into effect Monday.
The act creates safety programs and regulates medication for racehorses statewide. It was previously ruled unconstitutional by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last November. The court ruled the act gave too much power to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority and not enough to the Federal Trade Commission.
In response, Congress granted the FTC the authority to oversee the agency. It has now reached agreements with all state commissions and tracks that feature live racing.
West Virginia and Louisiana filed an injunction against the agency in July, keeping the act from being fully implemented while federal proceedings continued. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey had previously made statements against the agency’s legality.
A stay from the appeals court halted the injunction, though a revised ruling still blocked certain rules involving access to track records and facilities, calculations of fees paid to the agency by the states and definitions on which horses were covered by regulations.
Days after the original suspension of the rules took effect, a horse collapsed during a race at Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort in New Cumberland and had to be euthanized.
West Virginia has two horse racing venues: the Mountaineer Racetrack & Resort and the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races.
A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of West Virginia, Louisiana and Texas in a case regarding the implementation of federal racetrack safety rules for horse racing.
A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of West Virginia, Louisiana and Texas in a case regarding the implementation of federal racetrack safety rules for horse racing.
Both the nonprofit Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA), and the federal act that created it, were declared unconstitutional by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Congress originally passed HISA in 2020.
The authority would have overseen safety programs and made decisions regulating doping and medication in horse racing. In the past, these decisions were made at the state level.
The court ruled that the act gave too much power to the agency and not enough to the Federal Trade Commission, which had the power to approve or reject HISA regulations but not to modify them.
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has previously made statements against the legality of HISA, while animal rights organizations like Animal Wellness Action disagree, calling the act the “sport’s last chance at survival.”
An injunction was previously placed on the agency by the U.S. District Court’s Western District of Louisiana last July, but was blocked by the appellate court. A racehorse collapsed and was euthanized during a race at Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack, and Resort in New Cumberland shortly after the initial injunction.
West Virginia has two racetracks in the state, also including Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races.
A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction against the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Authority, keeping the agency from implementing racetrack safety and enforcement rules in both West Virginia and Louisiana.
A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction against the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Authority, keeping the agency from implementing racetrack safety and enforcement rules in both West Virginia and Louisiana.
The decision was made by the U.S. District Court’s Western District of Louisiana. The injunction is set to stay in effect until a wider lawsuit arguing against the agency’s constitutionality is resolved.
The suit comes after the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Act was passed by Congress in 2020. The act created a private agency that would develop safety programs and make decisions regulating doping and medication in horse racing. In the past, these decisions were made at the state level.
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey supports the decision, saying he is also confident the lawsuit challenging the legality of HISA will also be decided in the states’ favor.
“We are glad the judge realized the potential for harm to the horseracing industry in West Virginia was so serious that the injunction was warranted,” Morrisey said in a statement.
Animal rights organizations like Animal Wellness Action disagree, calling the act the “sport’s last chance at survival.”
“It’s a shame to see the federal court side with rogue state operators and officials who continue to help keep doping and animal abuse alive in American horse racing while the bodies of dead horses pile up in Louisiana and West Virginia,” executive director Marty Irby said in a statement. “If these states insist on operating under the status quo, then we will make sure to further highlight every doping incident, death, and scandal in their domains.”
West Virginia has two horse racing venues: the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races and the Mountaineer Racetrack & Resort in New Cumberland.
Live horse racing is back on without the fans at a West Virginia track a few days after the facility was shut down due to the new coronavirus.
Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races announced Thursday that horse racing would resume Friday night, The Journal reported. But the track’s grandstands, grounds and casino remain closed to the public, which can watch the eight-race card online or through the track’s simulcast partners.
The facility closed Tuesday night after Gov. Jim Justice ordered casinos around the state to shut down.
“It was actually made clear to us through the governor’s office that the mandated casino shutdown was not intended to apply to horse racing,” said Erich Zimny, the facility’s vice president of racing and sports operations.
The track said it will limit the number of people in the track’s barn area to horse owners, trainers and other essential workers.
Due to the virus, the track has postponed the Charles Town Classic, which was scheduled for April 18. No rescheduled date was announced.
The state’s other horse track at Mountaineer Casino in Chester does not start its 2020 live racing schedule until late April.
After almost 15 years doing without, revenue dollars are flowing back into West Virginia’s horse and dog racing industries. The legislature came through on a promise made more than a decade ago, and men and women within the racing industry are excited at the possibility of a boom in business. As part of our occasional series, “Effective from Passage,” we explore the potential effects of Senate Bill 13 (SB 13), which went into effect last week.
One of Jefferson County, West Virginia’s top three lead trainers is Tim Grams. He and his wife Judy run Grams Racing Stable in Charles Town.
They have 50 horses on their farm and 40 horses at the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races. A good portion of those horses belong to clients, but most belong to the Grams.
“We work with all of them every day,” Tim Grams said. “We get up probably right around 4:30 in the morning. My wife, she gets to the racetrack before I do and checks out everything. My wife gets the whole operation started in the morning before I get there.”
Grams and his wife have been doing this work since 1989, and they employ about 14 people in their training operation. This year, Grams’ horse named Runnin’toluvya won a major race called the Charles Town Classic. Grams’ horse was the first West Virginia horse to win the title since its inception in 2009.
The Charles Town Classic is what’s called a Grade II race, which falls just behind a Grade I race, like the Kentucky Derby. The Charles Town Classic was awarded Grade II status in 2012.
Credit Coady Photography
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Tim Grams’ horse Runnin’toluvya won the 2019 Charles Town Classic.
Trainers like Grams, as well as breeders, owners, groomers, jockeys, veterinarians, and several more could feel the effects of SB 13.
The bill returns $11 million annually to the state’s four racetracks.
Charles Town Races in Jefferson County and Mountaineer Park in Hancock County race thoroughbreds, while Mardi Gras in Kanawha County and Wheeling Island in Ohio County race greyhounds.
That $11 million will be divided and given to each track throughout the next year on a monthly basis, and it will continue every year after unless the West Virginia Legislature decides otherwise.
The funds can be used to support more race days or employ new people or potentially provide raises. It could help support more breeders, and it can affect the winnings on a horse or dog. Grams believes it could also provide incentive for more people in the industry to do business in West Virginia.
“I really think that that’s going to bring owners back into this business,” Grams explained. “There’ll be more opportunities to race with extra days, and already with the legislation passing, you can already see that the tempo [has] changed around here, and people seem a little bit more relaxed, because they’re not worrying about stuff every day.”
“More than anything, it was the legislature honoring a commitment,” Senate Finance Chairman Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, said. Blair was the lead sponsor of SB 13.
More than a decade ago, in 2005, West Virginia faced a large deficit – the state’s Workers Compensation Debt Reduction Fund was $4 billion in the hole. Blair said, at the time, the state Legislature was looking for ways they could fill that hole, and they looked to areas like the racing industry.
“They were just a pot of money sitting out there that could be reached into to help fund that $4 billion unfunded liability,” Blair explained.
The legislature pulled from other industries, too, such as coal, but lawmakers promised that once the debt was paid off, they would no longer tap into those revenue streams.
And that’s eventually what happened. The racing industry is the last one to see dollars returned.
Grams said the lost dollars over that 14-year period affected his business and many others, because fewer people were coming to West Virginia to breed, train, or race.
“Probably the first couple years, it wasn’t that big of a change. But after that, they look over and see Maryland’s doing great, Pennsylvania’s doing great, and the next thing, they take their mares from your farm. So, with all the other business up and starting to thrive, our revenue as a whole, it went down,” Grams said. “So, you know, it was harder to bring people in the state when we didn’t have the money, and we didn’t have anything to offer them.”
And SB 13 faced some pushback within the legislature. A handful of lawmakers tried to reroute the $11 million to support education.
But Blair argued the revenue wasn’t the legislature’s to bargain with anymore since the workers comp debt had been paid off.
“My number one reason was to keep the legislature’s promise,” Blair explained. “But the number two is, [the racing industry] is an economic engine that drives both tourism and the entertainment industry…but then agriculture as well.”
The most recent economic impact study done on West Virginia’s racing industry was conducted by West Virginia University’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research in 2014.
It found that the thoroughbred and greyhound racing industries in West Virginia contribute more than $320 million annually to the state’s economy and supports 7,300 jobs.
The West Virginia Lottery says the first official tax week of legal sports betting in the state will yield around $29,000 in tax revenue.
Acting Lottery Director Doug Buffington’s office said in a news release that the first three days of operation at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races showed taxable revenue of more than $295,000.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the West Virginia Gaming and Racing Association president, John Cavacini, says even more bets are expected to be placed this weekend when professional football season starts.
“Widely available legalized sports betting means big money for sports leagues like the NFL,” said Sara Slane, of the American Gaming Association.
Cavacini says Hollywood Casino was the first to begin legal sports betting. He says other venues will follow suit this month.
He says revenues will likely increase when mobile betting apps are up and running.
West Virginia has an advantage in attracting people across state lines to place bets because neighboring states aren’t taking up the issue, and there’s a significantly higher tax in Pennsylvania, Cavacini said.
“That’s what happened when we introduced slots and table games, because none of the other states had it,” Cavacini said. “For many years, we benefited from that.”
He said at some point neighboring states will likely legalize sports betting.
“But for now, we have a free run at it,” Cavacini said.
