OpenCDA

February 16, 2015

Stop! Get It Right

Filed under: Probable Cause — Tags: — Bill @ 11:52 am

gambling-games1Our OpenCdA post on February 6 urged Idaho lawmakers to Slow Down — Get It Right in deliberating Senate Bill 1011.  SB 1011, if passed and enacted, would repeal Idaho Code § 54-2512A.  When passed and enacted in 2013, I.C. § 54-2512A allowed pari-mutuel wagering on historic horse races.

On February 9 and 11, the Idaho Legislature’s Senate State Affairs Committee heard statements from 24 persons either supporting or opposing SB 1011.  Here is a link to the Legislature’s digital media archive of the February 9 session and the February 11 session.  To make it easier to more quickly locate a specific person’s statements, here is an index of speakers tied to the time stamp on each video.

After watching the videos, we think that it is not enough to say, “Slow down and get it right.”  We think it’s time to say, “Stop!  Get it right.”  

OpenCda twice watched the archived video of each session to get a clearer understanding of both sides of the issue.  We hope Idaho’s legislators and our citizens all watch each session with an open mind to better understand this issue.

OpenCdA believes the hearing presented credible information which refutes assertions made in this letter and this skewspaper editorial.

The hearing also presented credible information causing us to doubt legislators’ assertions that they were misled, duped, or deceived when the enabling legislation was passed in 2013.   The failure of the legislature to write precise laws does not warrant an allegation that citizens were somehow being deceptive when they interpreted broadly written laws differently than the legislators might have intended but failed to precisely articulate.

On February 6 we urged the Legislature to slow down and get it right.  Now, after listening to the proponents and opponents on February 9 and 11 who appeared before the Senate State Affairs Committee, we are convinced that action on SB 1011 needs to be suspended.

Legalized gambling is not coming to Idaho; it’s already here and has been since the tribal casinos opened decades ago.   To protect all Idaho’s citizens, the Idaho Legislature needs to do a great deal more work on the issues created by legalized gambling.  SB 1011 does nothing constructive toward completing that work.

Here are OpenCdA’s suggestions for a better approach than SB 1011:

1. Put SB 1011 on hold.   We think that’s what Senator Chuck Winder wisely sought with his substitute motion to hold it in committee at 02:53:09 of the hearing video on 02-11-2015.

2. Wait for the outcome of the Post Falls Police Department investigation into the legality of the devices in use at Greyhound Park and for any charging decision by the Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney. Also, Ada County Sheriff Raney had talked about going to court to get a judge to rule on the legality. This sounds like he might be looking for declaratory relief, but we haven’t heard any more about this. If this is proceeding, then wait for the outcome of this as well.

3. Impose a moratorium on any expansion of historic horse racing/instant racing (HHR/IR) gaming in Idaho.  Allow the existing facilities to remain in operation exactly as they are now, but forbid them to increase the number of facilities or HHR/IR machines.

4. Begin the process to form a State Gaming Commission. This should have been done before Indian gaming was ever permitted in the early 1990s. An ad hoc regulatory structure, and a very loose one at that, is what Idaho has now, and it clearly is not adequate.

In his hearing testimony on 02-09-2015 at 00:14:38, Coeur d’Alene Tribe Legislative Director Helo Hancock said, “This is not about live horse racing. This is about casino gambling. And we’ve seen an unprecedented expansion of casino gambling without anybody knowing what we’re getting into.”  “Anybody” includes the Coeur d’Alene Tribe! Hancock’s statement should scare the daylights out of everyone including legislators, because it strongly suggests that even the Coeur d’Alene Tribe didn’t know what it was getting into when it did not object to HHR/IR gaming in 2013.

If Hancock’s assertion is to be believed, it raises a reasonable question the compliance and security of the Tribe’s own gaming operations.  That, in turn, argues for the State Gaming Commission, because with legal gaming comes those who will try to gain unfair advantage in winning. That was addressed by Curtis Linnell, Vice President of Operations, Wagering Analysis, Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau, in his testimony on 02-09-2015.

5. Once the State Gaming Commission is in place, staffed, and operating, then it can assist the Legislature in looking at an overhaul of Idaho’s gaming and gambling laws.

At the hearing session on February 9, Doug Okuniewicz, General Manager, Coeur d’Alene Racing in Post Falls, commented that SB 1011 is “draconian.”   That was the correct word.   SB 1011 seems more intended to preserve the Tribes’ monopoly on legal wagering than on correcting what the Coeur d’Alene Tribe believes are violations of Idaho’s gaming laws.    If, as the Coeur d’Alene Tribe asserts, there are violations of Idaho’s laws being committed by those businesses offering pari-mutuel wagering on historic horse races (also known as instant racing), then there are appropriate and far less “draconian” remedies already available in Idaho law.

10 Comments

  1. That’s it! I cant’s takes it no more! All of your insistence that people watch a (well two) legislative hearings and your citing specific portions of testimony to watch…sheez. When does a person have time to do that? The Voice is starting up on TV again any day now. I’m not sure whether America Has Talent is ending or starting, but between reruns of The Big Bang Theory, Alaska Gold, and Alaska Living, when does a person have any time? I have always much preferred believing that legislators know what is going on and are doing the right thing. Sheez. Your posts are making me doubt our legislators. The thought even crossed my mind that I should vote in the next election. Yep. Sheez. When does a person have time to do that? The thought crossed my mind that I should move to Canada, but then I remembered that one time you pointed out that even moving there will not prevent election officials from hunting me down and sending me notices that it is important that I vote…if someday the thought that someday I might someday move back to Idaho should cross my mind. That type of thought could happen almost anytime and I am not going to spend all my waking hours repeating…I am not moving back to Idaho…ever. Nope…You are not going to be able to keep planting thoughts in old up river’s head no more. No siree Bob…er Bill. Nope. Adios Amigo.

    Comment by up river — February 16, 2015 @ 3:22 pm

  2. up river,

    Well, since I’ve driven you to flee the country, here’s a thought to take with you on your way to CanExico: Since the Indian tribes are sovereigns (sovereign nations), when do tribal leaders incur liability under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act?

    Comment by Bill — February 16, 2015 @ 6:50 pm

  3. In defense of up river, it does take some time to watch and download these videos, I am giving up my kitchen shows right now. However, they are so worth it if you are interested in a specific legislative issue.

    Right now, I am watching 01:38:51 Louis Cella, Chief Operating Officer Vice President of the Oaklawn Jockey Club, Vice President of Race Tech, LLC. He is very passionate about his business and boasts a 100 yr old history, he was cut off during some of initial testimony and actually asked to not “attack but to teach” the panel of Senators. I about choked. Seriously, Senator Davis? Anyway, he goes on to explain how his company turned down the Tribes years ago because pari-mutuel betting is not about the “house”, it is about the “pool” – meaning a percentage or commission goes to the track and the rest is distributed among the winners.

    “House bank is what slot machines are,” he goes on to explain. The slot machines as the tribes use have a random number generator or chip that tells you if you win or lose. He goes on to cite the experts in historical horseracing. Instant racing is part of a common pari-mutuel pool. I understand this concept as kind of like the lottery that is not won, but if you eventually play the same numbers you might not win this week, but you might win next week if there are no winners, thus the pot gets bigger.

    Some of these guys are already have made up their minds, Senator Davis is just not getting it. He just does not “lean” toward that direction and elicits a laugh from the audience when Cella says he doesn’t know what direction he is going. Well, I hope he starts leaning in the right direction because if he doesn’t along with others will cost Idaho so much money, it should then start to come out of their personal bank accounts.

    Cella works with the Horse Racing Commission of Idaho, which orders the machines. It was actually painful to listen to Sen. Davis ask his questions, like he was going to trap him and get some sort of juicy morsel of deceit from this man, which again, painfully displayed just how out of his league, Sen. Davis was who was just basically, “high centered.” He does not seem to understand the element of skill and judgment of this type of type of wager and evidently thinks it as a game of only chance. He then asks another loaded question of which Cella responds, “You are factually off base, sir.” Cella clearly explains that a pari-mutual machine is not a slot machine by law because there is no random generator or chip. Then, it just gets worse because Sen. Davis still doesn’t get it, and it just gets worse and worse while he continues to ask questions about why the mountains blows up. Clearly there are graphics, but Sen. Davis is refusing to accept the random generator or chip that allows the House to win in casino style gambling vs. the pari-mutuel pool where the winnings are distributed among the pool of winners. It is now too painful, I will watch the rest tomorrow.

    If this law is repealed and if our legislature does not get it right and slow down, Idaho will be getting so many damn lawsuits, we will have to start making up laws to taking the house winnings of our Indian Tribe Casinos away to stay afloat. The money they threaten to take away from us is already lost.

    We desperately need a gaming commission, this testimony makes it painfully obvious.

    Way better than a cooking show.

    Comment by Stebbijo — February 16, 2015 @ 7:45 pm

  4. Stebbijo,

    Oh, Senator Bart Davis “gets it” all right. Davis clearly understands the significance of the “random number generator” distinction in differentiating between slot machines and pari-mutuel historic horse racing machines in SB 1011. The minutes of the March 18, 2005, Senate State Affairs Committee at page 4 concerning H 23 – Electronic Bingo Devices: “Senator Davis referred to electronic facsimile and added that this may provide additional arguments regardling gambling such as the tribal gaming devices which are also electronic facsimile. He asked them to compare the electronic workings of this device versus the tribal slot machines. Director Simmons [Roger Simmons, then the Director of the Idaho Lottery] replied that he was not qualified to provide such a comparison. Ms. Amber French explained the difference is that the indian [sicsic

    Comment by Bill — February 16, 2015 @ 7:56 pm

  5. So, is Sen. Davis against Bingo? Is he just against it all?

    Comment by Stebbijo — February 16, 2015 @ 8:14 pm

  6. Stebbijo,

    I don’t know if Davis is against bingo. Here’s the link to H 23 and the voting on it in 2005.

    Comment by Bill — February 17, 2015 @ 6:07 am

  7. Well, I see the Senate overwhelmingly voted for the repeal. Sen. Keough voted against the repeal, pretty impressive. All of our northern Senators voted against except,Sen. Souza voted for it which is a surprise.

    Big mistake, I think, that many of our leaders made. Oh well, I guess, I will go back to watching cooking shows, it will be less stressful than watching the mess of things that will now unfold in Idaho.

    Comment by Stebbijo — February 17, 2015 @ 6:01 pm

  8. Stebbijo,

    I’m willing to wait and see what the House does.

    You quite rightly acknowledged Senator Keough’s vote against the repeal, but there were some other Senators who voted to approve pari-mutuel wagering on historic horse racing/instant racing in 2013 and against the bill to repeal it in 2015. Those from northern Idaho included Senators Keough, Nonini, and Vick. The others who voted for HHR in 2013 and against the repeal were Senators Bayer, Hagedorn, Johnson (Lodge), Nuxoll, Rice, and Winder. The “Johnson” who voted on behalf of Lodge was not Sen. Dan Johnson.

    The Senators who voted to approve pari-mutuel wagering on historic horse racing/instant racing in 2013 and for the bill to repeal it in 2015 were Brackett, Buckner-Webb, Cameron, Guthrie, Heider, (Dan)Johnson, Lacey, Lakey, Patrick, Schmidt, Siddoway, Stennett, and Thayn.

    The Senators who voted to reject pari-mutuel wagering on historic horse racing/instant racing in 2013 and for the bill to repeal it in 2015 were Senators Davis, Hill, Martin, McKenzie, Mortimer, and Tippets.

    I think I’ve got those attributions correct. The result of the 2013 legislative votes was linked in my February 6 post, and here’s a link to Tuesday’s Senate vote on SB 1011.

    You mentioned having difficulty watching the streaming video. I have a Mac, so what I had to do was first save the link to my desktop, then play it on Quicktime from the desktop.

    Comment by Bill — February 18, 2015 @ 6:38 am

  9. I cannot save the link to my desktop – it automatically has to download for me. I will have to check into this further, your way sounds more efficient and less time consuming. Would be really nice.

    So, I was on the ‘other’ blog, and Sen. Keough posted some really great comments about why she voted no against the repeal, but I cannot copy and paste that commentary here, nor am I sure if you would want the link. But she talked to the CDA lobbyist before she voted and questioned – why not amend certain laws ect? Her logic was to fix it, if they were the wrong machines, why throw out the entire law? If it was okay in the first place two years ago, then why not amend the law and get it right instead of losing the horse racing industry altogether and risking lawsuits that taxpayers will be liable for. Love, it — maybe she will be able to influence the House, because she definitely has it right and she evidently was not “duped.”

    Comment by Stebbijo — February 18, 2015 @ 5:51 pm

  10. Stebbijo,

    I read Senator Keough’s comments,and she was in agreement with what other Senators said: Fix the existing law. I agree with her and with Senator Nonini and the seven other Senators who voted to trash this abhorrent repeal effort. (Yeah, I subjected myself to the agony of watching yesterday’s Senate debate and vote on SB 1011.)

    I believe that she’s also correct if she’s asserting that the Coeur d’Alene Tribe is trying to gain an unfair monopoly by “influencing” some legislators to vote in favor of repeal. If I were the horsemen and those who relied on the 2013 law to make business investments, I would be talking with a federal practice/civil rights/FCPA attorney to see about a very large lawsuit against the state of Idaho and the Tribe. It’s complicated because the Tribe is a “sovereign nation”. I see a very striking similarity between what the CdA Tribe/certain Idaho legislators are trying to do now and what the Coeur d’Alene City Planning Commission seemed intent on doing in 2013 to cause the Port of Hope to be ineligible to bid on a federal contract in CdA. It was despicable then, and it’s despicable now.

    Comment by Bill — February 18, 2015 @ 7:25 pm

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