Idaho lawmakers say 'Whoa' to virtual horse races

BOISE, Idaho - An Idaho panel of lawmakers said that the 2009 Legislature, not the state commission that oversees horse racing, should decide whether pari-mutuel betting on cyberspace races should be allowed alongside existing gambling on events featuring live animals.

Steve Bieri, the head of San Diego, Calif.-based Capitol Racing, which operates Les Bois Park in Idaho's capital city, was hoping to ride his proposal featuring virtual jockeys, virtual trainers and even virtual racing forms into the winner's circle Tuesday. Bieri, who owns 30 percent of a separate company that would provide the virtual racing, told joint Senate and House subcommittees on administrative rules he'd be ready to start by Nov. 17.

The panel's 5-1 vote, objecting to a temporary rule backed by Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter to allow betting on virtual horses, was a clear sign the lawmakers would prefer to wait until the full Legislature meets again in January before deciding whether such activities should be permitted under existing rules governing gambling on live and simulcast horse, mule and dog races.

"I do have a concern here, if we start accepting virtual life alongside real life," said Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden. "I hate to go out on a limb here and sound wacky. But are we going to have to start addressing crimes for virtual rape and virtual kidnapping? Where does it stop?"

In 2008, Capitol Racing has given more than $22,000 in campaign contributions to groups including the Idaho Republican Party Central Committee as it seeks to win support for its proposal.

Because Otter, as well as the Idaho State Racing Commission, supports the temporary rule allowing virtual horse races, Bieri's plan for Les Bois Park could still move ahead, at least until early 2009. But House Speaker Lawerence Denney, R-Midvale, has already written a letter saying he would oppose rules allowing betting on anything other than live animals.

Otter aides said they'd take Tuesday's vote under advisement.

Virtual racing "is new, so we want to be sensitive to their concerns about it," said Otter spokesman Jon Hanian. "We also want to be sensitive to the concerns that the horse racing industry has. We are going to weigh what was said and the action that was taken, and we'll go from there."

State Racing Commission members are due to meet again on Nov. 12, where they'll consider what to do next. One commission member, Mike Bosen, said he's hoping Tuesday's vote won't delay virtual horse racing, which he sees as a way to prop up the flagging finances of Idaho's racing industry and thoroughbred, quarter horse and other breed associations that receive a cut of Idaho horse racing revenue, according to state law.

The Idaho Thoroughbred Association, the Idaho Quarter Horse Association and the state Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association all back virtual racing.

Betting on virtual horse races is already a reality in England, Bieri said, where bookmakers give odds on faux ponies and Internet racing buffs tally results of cyber champions.

Though the horses may not exist in real life, Bieri said computer programmers have given the steeds virtual attributes including speed, endurance and acceleration that, combined with virtual track conditions, will generate the winners. Even a computerized history of the successes of virtual trainers and jockeys will factor into complex algorithms that help determine a horse's chances of winning, he said.

"Each horse performs independently," Bieri said, adding he's convinced that computer programmers have perfected adequate safeguards against potential cheating. "At the start of each race, we don't know which horse is going to win."

Races at Les Bois Park are already shown in simulcast at more than 30 tracks across the country and Bieri said he would market virtual races to tracks elsewhere, too. If Idaho doesn't become the home for pari-mutuel betting on virtual racing, he said, some other state will.

"Idaho needs the money," Bieri said. "Keep it in Idaho, so Idaho would reap the benefits, rather than those going to other states."

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