Arizona Commission blocks Stronach Group from selling simulcast signals to outlets in the state

The Arizona Racing Commission has rescinded its permission to allow the simulcasting arm of The Stronach Group to sell signals to state betting outlets, citing a law passed last year.

The racing commission issued the ruling on Friday, one day prior to the Pegasus card at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Fla., making that day’s races at the track unavailable to all Arizona customers. Prior to the ruling, the signals controlled by the company, Monarch Content Management, were available to approximately 60 off-track betting outlets affiliated with Turf Paradise.

The ruling is an additional chapter in an ongoing dispute pitting Monarch against Arizona Downs, the track in Prescott that reopened last year. Last year, Monarch had declined to allow its signals to be distributed to seven off-track betting outlets affiliated with Arizona Downs, on the grounds that the track’s outlets were cannibalizing the existing outlets affiliated with Turf Paradise.

Arizona Downs and its supporters then went to the legislature to get a law passed requiring that signals be distributed to all state outlets. After the law passed, Monarch filed a lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order, citing an unconstitutional restraint of trade, but a judge denied the injunction in late December. The issues underlying the lawsuit remain unresolved.

Scott Daruty, the president of Monarch, said that the company remains concerned that the law is improper, and he said Monarch will wait until those issues are resolved in the courts before deciding on a plan of action.

“We believe we have the right to decide who we do business with and who we don’t do business with,” Daruty said. “We are prepared to deliver our signals on the same terms as in the past.”

In addition to Gulfstream Park, The Stronach Group owns Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields in California and Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course in Maryland. Monarch also controls the signals to Del Mar in California, Tampa Bay Downs in Florida, and Monmouth Park in New Jersey.