Lawmaker proposes legal Web bets

02/22/2006

Racetrack, horse owners could benefit

BY PATRICK SWEENEY
Pioneer Press

State Rep. Andy Westerberg of Anoka said Tuesday he plans to introduce a bill that would attempt to regulate in Minnesota the burgeoning business of Internet gambling on horse races.

“What I’m trying to do is look at ways we could legalize off-track betting,” said Westerberg, a Republican who chairs the Gaming Division of the House Regulated Industries Committee.

But there is a hitch — the state Supreme Court in 1992 ruled that a previous attempt by the Legislature to authorize off-track betting parlors was unconstitutional. The court said betting on horse racing in the state had to be conducted at racetracks.

Despite that ruling and despite federal laws that outlaw sports bookmaking, there has been an explosion in recent years of sports gambling through Web sites operated by offshore companies. A handful of U.S. companies offer legal Internet betting on live video of horse races.

The owners of Canterbury Park racetrack in Shakopee sell video from Canterbury to those services. But because of the Supreme Court ruling, the U.S. companies do not currently allow Minnesotans to place bets on races originating at Canterbury, according to Randy Sampson, the track’s president.

Westerberg said he did not plan to try to regulate all the Internet sports betting, only the betting on horse races.

He said that his bill is in the planning stages, but that he will schedule a hearing on it this year in his committee. “I honestly don’t expect it to pass this year,” he said.

Westerberg’s interest in the issue grew out of a study conducted by a committee of the Minnesota Racing Commission. The committee, which is scheduled to make a report to the commission today, studied the possibility of allowing Canterbury Park racetrack and horse owners who race there to accept a tiny share of bets that Minnesotans place through Internet betting services on races outside the state.