Law Article: Tribes and tracks go to battle over new machines

A popular and profitable form of gaming has sparked a controversy in Idaho between the state’s Indian tribes and horse racetracks. "Instant Racing" video slot machines replay the last seconds of horse races run in the past, but with identifying marks eliminated from the horses and riders. Players bet on the outcome of the race. Proponents also refer to the new games as "historical horse racing." The machines were legalized in 2013 by an Idaho law intended to revitalize the declining Idaho horse racing industry. The traditional pari-mutuel horse racing industry has experienced serious declines in revenue in the past years, and racetrack owners argue that Instant Racing is a lifeline saving them from otherwise inevitable closure. At Boise’s Les Bois Park racetrack alone, players wagered over $40 million in only seven months in 2014, bringing the racetrack into the black after years of shortfalls.

Idaho’s largest Indian tribe, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, along with the Kootenai, Shoshone-Bannock and Shoshone-Paiute Tribes, opposes the machines and has succeeded in introducing legislation in the Idaho Senate to repeal the 2013 legalization and prohibit the games throughout Idaho. A separate bill seeks to limit the gaming to three racetrack locations. The Tribes claim that the games are actually slot machines, which are illegal under Idaho’s Constitution. The Tribes argue that Instant Racing threatens tribal gaming conducted pursuant to Class III gaming compacts with the State and that the games have nothing to do with true pari-mutuel wagering.

Instead, the Tribes allege the games are an "illegal hoax" slipped past the Idaho legislature as a revived form of horse racing. Opponents and tribal representatives claim the industry represented that "historical horse racing" would be identical to live horse racing but using previously run races. Instead, opponents allege the machines require no skill and do not even require that the player select any horse to play and win the game. Nor are the bets pooled and the odds adjusted as in true pari-mutuel racing. Even some Idaho legislators say the legislature was duped when it legalized the machines in 2013 and did not realize the games were pure games of chance disguised as horse racing terminals.