From Daily Racing Form – To supporters of efforts to repeal a federal ban on most types of Internet gambling, the question is not if the government will roll back at least some of its prohibitions. The question is when.
Already this year, a New York representative has introduced a bill that would allow the federal government to sanction online gambling operations that accept bets from customers in multiple states. While the bill is not expected to go anywhere in this year’s congress, most horse racing lobbyists expect similar bills to surface each and every year until a ban on online poker, at the very least, is rescinded.
The legalization of online gambling could have serious a impact on racing. Under a federal exemption to the online betting ban, horse racing is the only legal form of Internet betting, and the sport has enjoyed a monopoly of sorts on the practice for more than a decade. While handle overall on U.S. horse racing has long been in decline, the availability of online betting has served to stanch the bleeding. Additional competition in the marketplace is not expected to work to horse racing’s benefit.
“There’s always going to be people pushing [for Internet gambling], and there’s always going to be states looking for money,” said Chris Scherf, the executive vice president of the Thoroughbred Racing Associations, a racetrack trade group. “That additional competition is going to have an impact on racing, no question, but it all depends on what types of gambling are legalized.”
