Tag: Wheeling Downs

Injunction Halts Horseracing Regulations In W.Va.

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.

July 14, 1900: Gangster 'Big Bill' Lias Possibly Born in Wheeling

Gangster “Big Bill” Lias was born on July 14, 1900 in either Greece or Wheeling. The uncertainty over his birthplace would later derail the government’s efforts to deport him.

The Prohibition era in America began just before Lias turned 20. Seeing an opportunity, he quit his family’s grocery business in Wheeling to sell illegal booze. After Prohibition was repealed, Lias moved into illegal gambling. And in 1939, when the numbers racket was made a felony, he launched a string of casino-nightclubs in Wheeling. He also played a major hand in the city’s prostitution business and became influential in local politics. In 1945, Lias purchased Wheeling Downs racetrack. Three years later, the federal government charged him with income tax evasion and, in 1952, seized his racetrack and other assets.

Lias’s organized crime empire was rife with violence, including gang wars and the mysterious death of his first wife. Thanks in large part to Lias, Wheeling became known nationally as a gambling hub.

Despite his criminal activities, though, he was often admired locally for his charity work. Big Bill Lias died in Wheeling in 1970 at age 69.

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