The Senate State Affairs Committee sounded no more receptive this morning to the spread of so-called “instant racing” terminals that resemble slot machines to Idaho communities than the House State Affairs Committee was a day earlier. The Senate panel voted unanimously to introduce legislation proposed by the Coeur d’Alene Tribe to repeal the 2013 law that authorized “historical” horse racing in Idaho – betting on replays of past races that already have been run – and resulted in the machines showing up at the Greyhound Park Event Center in Post Falls, Les Bois Park racetrack just west of Boise, and the Double Down Betting Bar and Grill and grill in Idaho Falls, that got the machines by signing on with a local horse racing track, Sandy Downs. The vote clears the way for a full hearing on the bill; you can read my full story here at spokesman.com.

“It is concerning to me that any track can assign this right to any location they want, which in my opinion was not the intent of the law,” said Senate President Pro-Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, who joined in the unanimous vote. “There’s been a lot of talk around the Capitol, and people are concerned.” Hill said there are concerns about whether the instant racing terminals violate the Idaho Constitution’s ban on slot machines, and about whether the intent of the 2013 law is being carried out; it was pitched as a way to raise money to bolster Idaho’s horse industry through an expansion of simulcasting, betting on broadcasts of races being run elsewhere. Hill said, “People want to discuss it, and so a hearing I think is appropriate.”

Today, unlike yesterday, representatives of Idaho’s horse industry turned out substantial numbers for the committee meeting, some wearing cowboy hats. But because it was just an introductory hearing for the tribe’s proposed bill, no public testimony was taken. Afterward, a dozen or so people from the horse industry and racing community huddled in the foyer of the Lincoln Auditorium, across the hall from the meeting room, with two lobbyists, Pat Sullivan and Russ Westerberg. The Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s lobbyist, Bill Roden, presented the proposed bill to the committee; tribal representatives including Helo Hancock, legislative liaison for the Coeur d’Alenes, also were in the audience.

Yesterday, after Roden’s presentation to the House State Affairs Committee, the committee asked Frank Lamb, executive director of the Racing Commission, for his response. “Well, I certainly felt the sting of the arrows,” he told the House panel. “Because it is pari-mutuel wagering, we can regulate it. If it were not, we couldn’t. ... We’re just going to continue to do our job and try to enforce the laws and the rules as best we can.”

In response to Hill’s questions, Lamb today said a law that passed about five years ago authorized racetracks to assign their simulcasting license to an off-track location, with approval from the local county commissioners and the Racing Commission. That’s how the Double Down bar in Idaho Falls got the machines; they fall under the simulcasting license for the Sandy Downs racetrack. The Senate committee also voted today to put off consideration of several administrative rules proposed by the state Racing Commission, one of which deals with the sites for the betting machines, until late next week.