Amendment #386 to H5562

Regulating racing licensees

Mr. Madaro of Boston moves to amend the bill by adding the following 9 sections:-

SECTION X. Chapter 128A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2024 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after Section 5C the following new section:

Section 5D.  (a) As used in this section, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:-

“Historical horse race”, any horse race whether running horse or harness, that was:  (i) previously conducted at a licensed pari-mutuel facility; (ii) concluded with official results; and (iii) concluded without scratches, disqualifications, or dead-heat finishes.

“Racing licensee”, a person licensed by the commission under this chapter to conduct a live horse racing meeting or a running horse racing licensee or greyhound meeting licensee that conducted simulcast wagering during calendar year 2025, as authorized by law.

“Pari-mutuel method of wagering”, a method of wagering in which those who wager on horses that finish in the position or positions for which wagers are taken share in the total amounts wagered, plus any amounts provided by a licensee, which may include a nonrefundable contribution to serve as a seed or guarantee; and in which a totalizator or similar mechanical equipment calculates pari-mutuel pools and payouts associated with each winning wager; provided that a wager placed on a historical horse racing terminal certified as a pari-mutuel terminal by an independent testing laboratory shall also be considered a pari-mutuel wager.

(b)  A racing licensee shall be eligible to accept pari-mutuel wagers on historical horse races provided such wagers are accepted at a facility at which the racing licensee conducts its in-person wagering activities under this chapter or chapter 128C or through account wagering offered by the licensee or its approved account wagering service providers pursuant to section 5C.  Wagering on historical horse races under this section shall be deemed to be pari-mutuel wagering on horse races under chapters 128A and 128C for purposes of the tenth clause of section 7 of chapter 4 of the General Laws.

(c) The commission shall authorize wagers on historical horse races, whether on an electronic gaming devise or otherwise, so long as such wagers meet the requirements of this section.

(d) Wagering on historical horse races may take place on electronic gaming devices provided that:

(1) all wagers use the pari-mutuel method of wagering;

(2) the licensee may operate a number of terminals it chooses;

(3) the terminal makes available true and accurate past performance information on each historical horse race prior to the patron making his or her selection;

(4) the terminal shall display a replay of each race, or a portion thereof, whether digital, animated, or by way of a video recording, and the official results of each race. The identity of each race shall be revealed to the patron after the patron has placed his or her wager;

(5) the outcome of each wager is based solely on the outcome of the historical horse race or races; no random elements may determine the outcome of the patron’s wager;

(6) the terminals have been tested by Gaming Laboratories International, LLC, another independent testing laboratory approved by the commission, or the commission’s technical compliance unit to ensure integrity and proper working order; and

(7) each licensee shall submit a responsible gaming plan to the commission for review and approval prior to activating any historical horse race terminal, and every year thereafter. Such plan shall include identification of postings and materials related to problem gaming to be made available to patrons expressing concerns about problem gaming, house imposed player limits, and self-exclusion plans.

(e)  Racing officials or any employee or owner of the entity that provides the totalizator system to the licensee, and any person responsible for the operation of the electronic reproduction equipment which operates the historical horse races and wagering, shall be prohibited from participating in wagering, directly or indirectly, on historical horse races offered at the licensee’s facility.

(f)  The wagering pool for a historical horse race shall be paid out as follows:

(1)  The licensee shall pay the following amounts from the pool, which amounts shall not be considered part of the licensee’s takeout:

(i) 2.5 per cent of handle to the commonwealth as an excise, which shall be transferred to the Health Safety Net Trust Fund established in section 66 of chapter 118E of the General Laws; provided, however, that (a) within 30 days of the commencement of operations accepting wagers on historical horse racing, the licensee shall make a nonrefundable payment of $25 million to the commonwealth that shall be a prepayment of the first $25 million of excise payable under this paragraph during the fiscal year of the commonwealth in which such operations commence, (b) by July 15 of the fiscal year of the commonwealth following the fiscal year in which such operations commence, the licensee shall make a nonrefundable payment of $50 million to the commonwealth that shall be a prepayment of the first $50 million of excise payable under this paragraph during such following fiscal year, and (c) with respect to the payments under clauses (a) and (b) of this paragraph, the licensee shall pay any additional excise due under this paragraph once the credit established by the prepayment is exhausted and the licensee shall not be entitled any refund or carryover credit in the event the credit is not exhausted during the fiscal year for which it is paid;

(ii) 0.25 per cent of handle to the host community of its facility for mitigation; and

(iii) 0.25 per cent of handle divided as follows:  (i) 0.1875 per cent of handle shall be dedicated to purses for, in the case of a live racing licensee, live horse races that it conducts and, in the case of a running horse racing licensee that conducted simulcast wagering during calendar year 2025, for live running horse races conducted in the Commonwealth or to its recognized running horsemen’s association as purses and, in the case of a greyhound racing licensee that conducted simulcast wagering during calendar year 2025, for live running horse or harness races conducted in the Commonwealth as allocated by the commission and (ii) 0.0625 per cent of handle shall be dedicated to the breeders of, in the case of a live racing licensee, the type of horses that run in the live races it conducts and, in the case of a running horse racing licensee that conducted simulcast wagering during calendar year 2025, for breeders of running race horses and, in the case of a greyhound racing licensee that conducted simulcast wagering as during calendar year 2025, for breeders of running race horses or harness races horses as allocated by the commission;

(2)  The licensee shall be entitled to a takeout from the remainder of the pool determined as a percentage of handle provided that the total amount of the takeout and the amounts paid pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection (f) shall not exceed the maximum takeout for wagers on live horse races established pursuant to section 5 of this chapter; and

(3)  The licensee shall return to the winning patrons the balance of the pool.

(g) In addition to the takeout, the licensee shall be entitled to retain the breaks.  In the event the commission imposes an assessment on the licensee in connection with the costs of regulating wagering on historical horse races, the licensee may retain an additional amount of handle sufficient to pay the assessment.

(h) Licensees offering wagering on historical horse races shall be authorized to offer promotional wagering credits to patrons for placing wagers on historical horse races at the licensees facility or through account wagering offered by the licensee or its approved account wagering service providers pursuant to section 5C.  Wagers placed using promotional wagering credits shall not be considered part of the licensee’s handle for historical horse wagering pari-mutuel pool for purposes of section 3(f).

SECTION X.  Section 9 of said chapter 128A, as so appearing, is hereby amended in the fourth paragraph by inserting after the words “section 5C,” the following words:- or wagering on historical horse races, as provided in section 5D.

SECTION X.  Said section 9 of said chapter 128A, is hereby further amended by inserting the following new paragraph after said fourth paragraph:

Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, in regulating wagering on historical horse races as authorized by Section 5D and the facilities in which such wagering is to be conducted, the commission shall take into account the cost to licensees of regulation relative to the net revenue to be generated by such wagering, the amount of cash to be handled at the facility, and the risks imposed by such wagering.  The economic and operational burdens of the commission’s regulations shall be consistent with, and not greater than, those that it has historically applied in the Commonwealth pursuant to 205 CMR 6.00 & 7.00 with respect to pari-mutuel wagering, including account wagering under Section 5C.  In determining the appropriate level of regulation of wagering on historical horse racing, the commission shall review the manner and extent to which other states regulate wagering on historical horse racing at facilities that are separate from casinos including without limitation with respect to surveillance.

SECTION X.  Section 11C of said Chapter 128A, as so appearing, is amended in the second paragraph by inserting, after the first sentence, the following new sentence:- It shall not be considered an undesirable concentration of ownership of racing facilities if one or more persons owns, directly or indirectly or indirectly, some or all of two or more racing licensees none of which conducts lives races.

SECTION X.  Section 5B of Chapter 271 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is amended in subsection (c) by deleting the words “whether live or simulcast” and inserting in place thereof the following words:- whether live, simulcast or historical.

SECTION X.  Section 17A of said chapter 271, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the words “section 5C” the following words:- or section 5D

SECTION X.  A racing licensee under chapter 128A of the General Laws who offers in-person wagering on historical horse races pursuant to section 5D of said chapter 128A, as inserted by this act, shall continue to be a racing licensee for purposes of said section 5D and shall be authorized to continue to offer such wagering for a minimum period of 5 years from the date it first offers such wagering notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, including without limitation any expiration or repeal of said chapter 128A or chapter 128C of the General Laws or any other general or special law related to racing or simulcasting, or any resulting cessation of simulcasting by the licensee.  Such authorization of any such licensee shall be automatically extended for successive five-year periods provided that, at the end of any five-year period, the licensee is in good standing and compliance with said section 5D and the rules and regulations promulgated by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission pursuant thereto.

SECTION X.  The Massachusetts Gaming Commission shall promulgate regulations to implement historical horse racing as authorized by section 5D of chapter 128A of the General Laws, as inserted by this act, within 120 days of the effective date of this act.  Notwithstanding section 9B of said chapter 128A or any other general or special law to the contrary, such regulations shall take immediate effect upon promulgation on an interim basis pending completion of the process set forth in said section 9B.

SECTION X.  (a) Notwithstanding section 4 of chapter 128C of the General Laws, section 11 of chapter 494 of the acts of 1978 or any other general or special law to the contrary, the running horse racing licensee in Suffolk county that conducted simulcasting as of December 31, 2020, shall not be obligated to make any further payments into the Running Horse Promotional Trust Fund, established pursuant to said section 11 of said chapter 494.

(b) All amounts in said Running Horse Promotional Trust Fund and in the Running Horse Capital Improvements Trust Fund established pursuant to said section 11 of said chapter 494 attributable to the running horse racing licensee in Suffolk county that conducted simulcasting as of December 31, 2020, shall be returned by the Massachusetts gaming commission to the said licensee without further condition.

Additional co-sponsor(s) added to Amendment #386 to H5562

Regulating racing licensees