Tribe on instant racing: ‘This process was not done right’

Helo Hancock, legislative liaison for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, told the House State Affairs Committee this morning, “I’m here on behalf of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe because there has been an unrivaled expansion of casino gambling in Idaho under the guise of wagering on a previously run horse race.” Hancock said he sat through the hearings in 2013 on legislation to legalize wagering on “historical horse races. “We were all assured that this was virtually identical to wagering on a live simulcast race,” he said, “… and that this was nothing more than what we were already regulating.”

Then he showed a video of the slot machine-like machines that were installed in the past year at three Idaho locations, Les Boise Park near Boise, the Greyhound Park in Post Falls, and the Double Down Betting Bar in Idaho Falls, after passage of the law. He said Frank Lamb, the former director of the Idaho State Racing Commission, who was the main witness speaking for the bill in 2013, failed to disclose what was really in store. “Mr. Lamb also failed to disclose to this committee that he was a paid lobbyist in Wyoming working on promoting these machines. When that came out, he stepped down,” Hancock said.

Lamb abruptly retired on Jan. 30, two days after the Idaho Statesman newspaper reported dual role as a lobbyist for a simulcast and instant racing company in Wyoming.

“We need to hit the reset button here,” Hancock told the committee. “This process was not done right. The machines we see today are not the machines that were described two years ago … but the fact of the matter is these are the machines that were intended to be installed all along. ” He said, “This is not about horse racing, this is about casino gambling. And it was done without an open discussion in a public forum.”