One rebate shop getting track's signal

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Keeneland is continuing to block its signal to most offshore rebate outlets, a spokesman for Keeneland, Jim Williams, said on Thursday, although one domestic rebate site has been allowed back into the track's pools.

The site, Lien Games in North Dakota, has been allowed to take bets on Keeneland races because, Williams said, it "fulfilled the due diligence and provided the information we requested" through the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau, a racetrack-owned investigative agency.

When asked whether other sites have failed to comply with the protective bureau's requirements, Williams said that "it's safe to assume that."

In addition, Keeneland is continuing to allow Royal River Racing, a race book in South Dakota that is owned by the professional gambler Randy Gallo, to bet on its signal. Gallo said on Thursday that he complied with the protective bureau's request for information in June of last year and that no racetracks have cut off signals to his operation.

Keeneland cut off its signal to most rebate shops in 2005 after federal prosecutors indicted 17 people on charges of running an illegal gambling ring for four years through five rebate operations. Since then, the protective bureau has asked racetracks to demand that simulcasting outlets comply with a list of disclosure requirements before being allowed to take wagers on the tracks' races.

Lien Games, based in Fargo, N.D., operates offtrack betting parlors in the state and a telephone-betting operation.