Asmussen reaches compliance agreement with New York Gaming Commission

The New York State Gaming Commission and the Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen have reached an agreement that will require Asmussen to hire an independent monitor who will seek to ensure that his stable is in compliance with all federal and state labor laws for the next two years.

The agreement allows Asmussen to avoid an adjudication over his ability to retain a racing license in New York. In June, the NYSGC had served Asmussen with a notice calling for a hearing into the potential revocation of his license in September, but that hearing was postponed as the regulatory agency and Asmussen’s attorney hashed out the agreement posted this week.

Under the agreement, the independent monitor will submit quarterly reports throughout 2025-26 to the NYGSC as part of a review of Asmussen’s labor practices. Asmussen will also be required to notify the NYGSC within 10 days of any reported labor violations by state or federal agencies.

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The monitor will be dismissed 30 days after the final quarterly report is issued, as long as the reports indicate that Asmussen “has been in substantial compliance with federal and/or state labor, employment, and/or immigration statutory and/or regulatory laws with respect to horse-racing activities in any jurisdiction.”

In 2021, Asmussen was ordered to pay $563,000 in back wages and penalties to employees of his New York stable for a period covering 2016 to 2020. In 2023, he reached a separate agreement with the Department of Labor for violations of the H-2B visa program requiring $129,000 in back wages and $75,000 in penalties. Those violations occurred from 2016 to 2019.

Earlier this year, Asmussen appealed a separate judgment related to his Kentucky operations that required him to pay $486,000 in back wages and penalties for a period running from 2012 to 2019.

Asmussen’s attorney, the horse owner Clark Brewster, has said that Asmussen has modified his labor and pay practices as a result of the judgments, and that the issues raised by state and federal labor regulators were not “willful” acts.

Over the past five years, a number of New York trainers have settled with state and federal labor regulators over issues substantially similar to those involved in the Asmussen case. The trainers have contended that the industry has been slow to adopt modern pay practices that fit with the odd hours worked by grooms and hotwalkers, including the use of timeclocks and properly documenting hourly work.

In the summer of 2023, Asmussen said that he was closing his year-round stable in New York due to concerns over the costs of training in the state. At the time, he kept approximately 40 horses year-round in New York. He continues to ship horses in to New York for major stakes races.

Asmussen is the sport’s all-time leading trainer in wins, with 10,697 victories and counting. Over his career, his horses have earned nearly $460 million in purses.

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