The dispute between the state and Santa Anita Park over the use of a new betting machine was ratcheted up Wednesday when four major trade unions sent a letter to Rob Bonta, the California attorney general, urging the state to return the terminals it confiscated on Saturday. Santa Anita filed suit against the state on Tuesday seeking the same.
Collectively, the Service Employees International Union, the Teamsters, California State Pipe Trades Council and the State Assn. of Electrical Workers created a special letterhead with all their logos to show their solidarity on the issue. The two-page letter, obtained by The Times, was stinging and pointed, calling the state’s removal of Racing on Demand machines as “not only misguided but reckless.”
It went on to say: “By removing these terminals, your agency has introduced unnecessary uncertainty into an industry already confronting significant economic challenges. This decision undermines innovation, discourages investment and jeopardizes the more than $1.7 billion in annual economic impact that California horse racing generates for local communities, workers and the state as a whole.”
The seizing of the 26 Racing on Demand machines and the money within the machines by 21 state Department of Justice employees and two Arcadia Police personnel on Saturday is forcing those in the horse racing orbit to take sides.
The state, by virtue of the raid, seems to be siding with the California tribes, who have purview over almost all non-pari-mutuel gambling in the state and oppose the machines. It includes casinos, table games and slot machines among other forms of gambling.
Santa Anita, and by extension Del Mar and Los Alamitos, contend the game, played on a machine that has the look and feel of a slot machine, say the betting is conducted between patrons in a commingled pool and paid out based on how much money is bet on each combination. The house, in this case Santa Anita, does take money off the top to run the game but is not involved in determining the payoffs.
The stated goal of the tracks is to use some of the money generated by the machines to increase purses, which is a huge liability in California racing now. A lot of states, most notably Kentucky and New York, use money from casino racing to help their race purses.
The current takeout on the 3 X 3 game, the one used on the machines where you pick first, second and third in three different races, is 22%, meaning the return to bettors is 78% of the money bet.