Bill Backs Horse Race Simulcasts Stoicheff’S Proposal Would Keep Betting Alive At Greyhound Park

Just because Idaho will ban betting on simulcast dog races this summer doesn’t mean it will crimp betting on simulcasts of horse races, Rep. Jim Stoicheff said.

But because of questions from the livestock industry, Stoicheff introduced a bill on Thursday to make sure.

“We didn’t have any quarrel with the horse racing, we just had a quarrel with the dog racing,” Stoicheff said. “We got rid of the dog racing because it’s a cruel blood sport. If it’s a cruel blood sport, we shouldn’t support it from anywhere else. If we have simulcasting, that’s just going to help it survive.”

Idaho banned dog racing in 1996, after complaints about the treatment of racing greyhounds. It allowed betting on broadcasts of out-of-state dog races to continue until June 30, 1999, to allow a three-year contract to finish up at the Greyhound Park in Post Falls.

Duayne Didericksen, general manager of Les Bois Inc., the company that holds the contract, said he prefers Sen. Clyde Boatright’s bill to allow dog-race simulcasting to continue.

But if he can’t get that one, Stoicheff’s bill will do, Didericksen said. “It’ll at least keep that facility open, hopefully.”

The Post Falls betting facility employs 68 people, Didericksen said.

He said it’s unclear whether bettors who wager on broadcasts of greyhound races will switch over to the broadcasts of horse races.

“That’s like you driving a Cadillac car, and someone wants you to switch to another car. I don’t know whether you’ll do it.”

Dog races are quicker, allowing more betting in the same period of time.

But figures compiled by the state Racing Commission show that in the past year, $8.7 million was bet on simulcasts of horse races at the Greyhound Park, while just $2.4 million was bet on dog races. Greyhound betting revenue from Post Falls paid $24,150 to Kootenai County for tourism promotion, but didn’t put any money into public schools. That’s because provisions for part of the take to go to schools don’t kick in until betting reaches $20,000 a day - and it never has.

Stoicheff said Boatright’s proposal is “a bad bill.”

“His goes definitely against what we agreed to in 1996,” Stoicheff said. “I would say it’s a dog, but that’s a bad pun.”

Boatright’s dog-simulcasting bill won introduction last week in the Senate amid some questions, after it was listed on a committee agenda as a measure to “continue the economic viability of the Idaho equine industry.”

A portion of the proceeds from dog-racing simulcasts supports horse breeders and horse racing across the state.

Didericksen said the Post Falls betting facility now provides 40 percent of the purses for live horse races at Les Bois Inc.’s Boise horse race track. The company also takes bets in Boise on simulcasts of dog races, where they account for a little over 10 percent of the business.

Stoicheff’s bill will be scheduled for a full hearing in the House State Affairs Committee within the coming weeks.