California Legislature passes bill redirecting NoCal simulcasting revenue
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Legislation that will redirect revenue from simulcasting and account wagering in Northern California to tracks in Southern California when racing is not being held in the north sailed through the California Legislature without opposition on Wednesday and Thursday.
The bill passed the state assembly on Wednesday and the senate on Thursday and will be sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has until mid-October to sign or veto the legislation.
The legislation was approved two months after the announcement that Golden Gate Fields in Albany, near Oakland, will close as soon as mid-December. Officials with 1/ST Racing, the parent company of Golden Gate Fields, announced at the time that it wants to consolidate racing at its Southern California track, Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, near Los Angeles.
More recently, there has been widespread discussions between Northern California racing executives and 1/ST Racing about keeping Golden Gate Fields open until June to provide the California Authority of Racing Fairs additional time to form a replacement calendar. In recent years, Golden Gate Fields has run a marathon winter-spring meeting from late December to early June.
The California Horse Racing Board is scheduled to discuss 2024 Northern California racing dates at its monthly meeting on Thursday. The board’s racing committee heard extensive testimony at a meeting in Del Mar last month about possible scenarios for racing dates next year with or without a meeting at Golden Gate Fields in the winter and spring.
The looming closure of Golden Gate Fields has created widespread turmoil in the Northern California racing community regarding the future of racing in that portion of the state.
The legislation approved on Thursday would take effect on July 1, 2024, presumably a few weeks after the final day of racing at Golden Gate Fields, if the track races next year.
If the racing board allocates dates to Northern California venues after July 1 of next year, simulcast revenue originating in that part of the state would go toward purses and to tracks operating in the north, according to a government analysis of the legislation.
If no Northern California racing dates are allocated, the legislation directs revenue to Southern California tracks.
Several proposed schedules for Northern California in 2024 have been discussed, including versions that would have Cal-Expo in Sacramento replace Golden Gate Fields in the first half of the year, or a combination of dates at the Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rosa and Sacramento replacing those dates at Golden Gate Fields.
The expansion of racing dates at Cal-Expo in the early months of the year may be hindered by an existing nighttime harness racing meeting conducted at that location until early May. Harness officials said earlier this summer that it has a contract to operate race meetings at Cal-Expo until 2030.
Another proposal would have racing at Golden Gate Fields through mid-June, followed by the annual circuit of meetings at county fairs in the summer and at Fresno in October. Race days currently held by Golden Gate Fields in the final four months of the year surrounding the Fresno meeting would be divided between Cal-Expo and Santa Rosa.
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