Doug Okunewicz, general manager for Coeur d’Alene Racing, which operates the Greyhound Park Event Center, said of the bill, “I think it’s probably a good idea. It seems to me that a centralized commission would likely provide a more consistent application of our constitution and statutes in Idaho.”

He said he thought the rules for tribal gaming machines, which were enacted through a voter initiative and then formalized through negotiated compacts with oversight from the National Indian Gaming Commission, should apply to gaming machines at race tracks in Idaho too. “The historical racing machines operate in precisely the same way that the tribal gaming machines used to operate,” Okunewicz said, with a “Bingo screen. … The two games are almost exactly the same. … They function almost identically. And yet we have tribal representatives saying that the one is a representation of casino gambling and the other is not. Well, that’s just silly.”

Melissa Bernard, operator of Double Down Betting Bar & Grill in Idaho Falls, also spoke in favor of the gaming commission bill, HB 279.