Historical racing machines authorized for Canterbury

The Minnesota Racing Commission on Tuesday voted 5-1 to approve the operation of historical horse racing machines at Canterbury Park and a Minnesota harness track, in a decision that is wrapped up in a longstanding dispute between the tracks and the state’s Indian tribes and a current legislative effort to authorize sports gambling.

The vote, which was not on the commission agenda, would allow Canterbury and Running Aces, the harness track, to install and operate up to 500 historical horse racing machines each as of May 21, the date after the state legislature is set to adjourn. The commission took the vote after representatives of the Indian tribe argued against the decision.

A spokesman for Canterbury, Jeff Maday, said that the track would not comment on any plans to install the machines. However, he said that “we’re pleased that the racing commission sees the importance of a healthy racing industry.”

Canterbury, which has struggled financially for the past several years, had presented plans to the commission stating that the machines would raise $5.5 million in purse subsidies at the track.

The Minnesota legislature is currently considering legislation that would grant the state’s Indian tribes sports-betting licenses. The tribes are already allowed to operate casinos in the state.

The legislation, which would send a total of $625,000 to Canterbury and Running Aces from the sports-betting proceeds, also includes provisions that explicitly prohibit the racing commission from authorizing historical horse racing machines. According to officials, the decision to include the language upset members of the racing commission, leading to the Tuesday vote.

Historical horseracing machines, which have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues to Kentucky racetracks over the past 10 years and provided subsidies that have doubled purses on the Kentucky circuit, use the results of previously run races to generate random numbers determining payouts on devices that are nearly identical to slot machines.

The classification of the devices as “pari-mutuel” has been problematic in many states, including Kentucky, where the state legislature in 2021 passed a bill explicitly authorizing the machines after a state court ruled that they were not pari-mutuel in nature. Earlier this year in Minnesota, the state’s Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement division issued a brief decision stating that it believed the devices were not pari-mutuel in nature, an opinion disputed by racing supporters.

In its Tuesday vote, the Minnesota Racing Commission authorized the machines as a form of advanced deposit wagering, which it currently has the power to regulate. That would mean that players of the devices would need to sign up for accounts to bet.

At the end of 2022, a 10-year agreement between the owners of Canterbury and the Indian tribe that operates the nearby Mystic Lake Casino and Hotel that provided the track with a total of $84 million in payments expired. Efforts by Canterbury to renew a similar agreement have been unsuccessful, and relations between the track and casino interests in the state have been strained ever since.

Canterbury had used the money to subsidize its purses, and since the expiration, field sizes and purses have dropped considerably at the track.

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