Congressmen introduce antigambling bill

Two congressmen who have a history of supporting legislation seeking federal oversight of racing said on Thursday night in a joint release that they have introduced a bill that would ban interstate wagering on horse racing, depriving the industry of the main source of its revenue.

The bill was introduced Thursday by Sen. Tom Udall, a Democrat of New Mexico, and Rep. Joe Pitts, a Republican from Pennsylvania. In the past several years, the two congressmen have introduced bills that would give the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, a private company, the authority to oversee the sport’s medication policies and would ban the race-day administration of medications.

A release said the ban on interstate wagering would “[encourage] the sport to end doping and crack down on cheaters.” Approximately 90 percent of all bets made on horse racing are placed at offtrack locations, and a ban on the practice would effectively shut down racing nationwide.

The release did not state how the ban would lead to greater oversight of regulatory issues, though statements in the release seemed to suggest that it would force the racing industry to explore national medication policies and a ban on the use of race-day medication, which in the vast majority of states is limited to furosemide, the anti-bleeding medication commonly known as Lasix. The bill, which was provided by Udall’s office, runs four pages, with most of the bill devoted to outlining reasons for the ban.

The bill states that “the use of performance-enhancing drugs in horseracing is widespread in the United States, where no uniform regulations exists with respect to the use of, and testing for, performance-enhancing drugs in interstate horseracing.”

The release noted that 19 of 20 horses running in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby “will be injected shortly before post time,” a reference to the race-day administration of furosemide. Both the release and the bill state that “misuse of permitted medication and abuse of illegal drugs” is a leading cause of horse-racing fatalities, though a link between the two has not been conclusively demonstrated even if anecdotal evidence would seem to suggest a link exists.

Legislation seeking federal oversight of horse racing has been introduced or announced in the week leading up to the Kentucky Derby twice in the past four years, both times with Udall and Pitt as co-sponsors. As in previous years, the Thursday announcement was timed to coincide with the widespread interest in the sport generated by the Derby.

Although the previously introduced bills have been granted hearings, they have never advanced past a committee vote.

Several leading Thoroughbred organizations have backed efforts in the past to give the federal government or the USADA the authority to regulate racing’s medication policies. Last year, The Jockey Club announced that it would support the effort for federal oversight if the vast majority of racing states did not adopt a uniform medication policy developed by industry-wide organizations. Although many states have adopted the policy in whole or in part, many other states have not.

Technically, the bill would repeal the Interstate Horseracing Act of 1978, which grants the authority to conduct interstate wagering. The act was amended in 2000 to allow horse racing to accept bets over the Internet, and the bill introduced Thursday notes that the amendment grants the racing industry “a gambling privilege no other sport enjoys.”

The bill notes that wagering on horse racing has fallen 30 percent from 2002-14. “The Interstate Horseracing Act of 1978 has not met its original policy goal of furthering the United States horseracing industry,” the bill states.