Editorial: Ban instant horse race machines at non-Indian tracks

Idaho legislators reconsidering instant horse racing are on the right track.

Two years ago, the lawmakers accepted the premise that the gambling devices were just a quick-paced facsimile of the real thing and would help preserve true horse racing by supporting tracks that have largely been abandoned by bettors seeking more action.

Horsefeathers.

These are slot machines, with all the noise and flashing lights intended to attract bettors and keep them in the saddle as long as possible. And as slot machines, they violate provisions in the Idaho Constitution made as recently as 1992 that ban slots or electronic machines that imitate them.

Idaho law does allow pari-mutuel wagering, the traditional way to gamble on the “ponies.” Bettors on-site and at off-track betting parlors place wagers on horses to win, place or show, or in combinations such as exactas. A track oddsmaker sets the “morning line,” but the real odds are adjusted as more or less money is bet on each horse.