“We’ve all been fascinated and thrilled with watching the skill and the beauty of horse racing,” Senate President Pro-Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, told the Senate as he opened debate today on SB 1011, the bill to repeal authorization for so-called “instant racing” machines in Idaho.

“I’m going to share with you my understanding of what was presented two years ago,” Hill said. “My understanding was that you were going to have your own machine where you could watch the race, a race that had been run some time in the past. … But similar to what you would do if you saw last weekend’s football game that you put on the DVR. After the race, you collect your winnings or you go home to your spouse and try to explain why you blew this week’s check.”

“That’s what I anticipated. This is what we got,” Hill said, describing a recent visit to Les Bois Park to see the machines. “There were rows and rows and rows of machines that look liked the slot machines I had seen in Vegas. ... They had fruits and bars and berries and symbols and stuff on these things as they spun around. ... They sounded like slot machines – ding ding ding! And I found out that they acted like slot machines too.”

Hill said he looked for the horse race on the machine, and, “I finally found it.” It was on a tiny, three-inch screen. “It only lasted three seconds,” he said. “We lost all three dollars. So I got up and walked around. I couldn’t find anybody who was watching those three-second races.”

“This is not a sport of skill and beauty,” Hill said. “It’s a cheap game of chance.” He said, “The only race here is to see who can push the betting button the fastest.”

“If we had been given the full picture, we never would have approved this illegal form of gambling,” Hill said. “We need to get back and start this race, over, and that’s what this bill does, it repeals” the law adopted in 2013, “so we can have a fresh start.”