LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Republican leadership of the Kentucky state Senate will not consider a bill to authorize casino gambling in the state unless the Democratic-controlled House passes a bill first, the Senate majority leader said after meeting with his Republican counterparts Monday night.

Churchill Downs Inc., the giant racetrack and casino company, has alleged in a lawsuit that it was bamboozled by a New Jersey real estate developer as the company pursued a deal to operate an internet gambling platform in the state.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Equine fatalities at California tracks dropped 24 percent in the 2012-13 fiscal year to its lowest number in more than two decades, according to the California Horse Racing Board’s annual report, published earlier this month.

From July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013, 209 horses of all breeds died within enclosures under the jurisdiction of the racing board throughout the state. By comparison, there were 278 fatalities in the 2011-2012 fiscal year, and 265 in the 2010-2011 fiscal year. The figure reached 325 in the 2007-08 fiscal year.

Blood and urine samples from horses running in races at Maryland tracks will be tested by Truesdail Laboratories in Tustin, Calif, under a new 5-year deal that ended the state racing commission’s longtime relationship with a state testing lab.

The New York Racing Association’s signal will be available on the account-wagering website owned by Churchill Downs Inc. through Monday even if the two sides are unable to agree on a new simulcasting contract by then, a NYRA official said Thursday.

The two sides agreed to allow the signal to be available to customers of twinspires.com through the next four days of live racing at NYRA’s Aqueduct Racetrack as they continue to negotiate a new contract, according to NYRA spokesman Eric Wing, to avoid “signal disruption.” Aqueduct is racing on a Friday-through-Monday schedule.

Greg Wolf, an analyst with Television Games Network, will be the host for an upcoming nine-broadcast series of live races on Fox Sports 1 co-produced by The Jockey Club, the organizations announced on Thursday, three days prior to the series launching.

Penn National Inc., the large casino and racetrack operator, took $1.13 billion in impairment charges in 2013 related to a spin-off of its assets, leading to a net loss of $794 million for the year, according to financial documents released Thursday.

A New York Racing Association official predicted Wednesday that the association’s signal would not be blacked out as of Friday on the country’s largest account-wagering platform even though negotiations between NYRA and the platform’s owner, Churchill Downs Inc., had not yet resulted in a simulcasting agreement.

“Both sides are continuing to negotiate,” said Eric Wing, a spokesman for NYRA. “We don’t anticipate that there will be any interruption of the signal on Friday.”

U.S. racetracks carded 13 more race days last month than in January 2013, and yet handle on U.S. races still declined for the month, albeit by a tiny amount, according to figures released Wednesday by Equibase.

Despite a glut of weather-related cancellations by tracks in the Midwest and Northeast during the month, U.S. racetracks still hosted 305 race cards, compared with 292 cards in January 2013, up 4.5 percent. Total wagering on the cards was $800.5 million, down 0.2 percent from wagering of $802.3 million in January 2013, according to the figures.

The New York Racing Association and Churchill Downs Inc. have been unable to reach an agreement on NYRA’s simulcast signal rights despite several extensions to last year’s contract, a dispute that could result in a blackout of NYRA’s signal on the United States’s largest account-wagering site beginning later this week, according to officials.

The latest extension to last year’s agreement expired Monday, and negotiations between the two parties are ongoing, according to the tracks’ officials. NYRA’s next live racing day is Friday at Aqueduct.