Bill Excludes County Fair : Satellite Race Betting for Southland Gains

Specifically excluding the Orange County Fair, the Assembly voted Wednesday to allow satellite gambling at most horse racing tracks in Southern California.

The measure, by Sen. Ken Maddy (R-Fresno), would allow bets to be placed at the Los Alamitos Race Track, for example, on races at Del Mar in San Diego County when the Los Alamitos track is idle. The races could be watched at Los Alamitos on closed-circuit television.

The bill would not, however, allow betting at tracks in Los Angeles and Orange counties on races being held at other tracks in those counties. It was approved on a 64-8 vote and sent to the Senate for final approval of amendments. Satellite wagering has been legal in Northern California for three years.

Racing industry officials estimate that Maddy’s bill will increase betting by $350 million to $400 million a year, with about $50 million of that amount going to higher purses for horse owners and race track commissions and about $1 million going to the state treasury.

The Orange County Fair was excluded from Maddy’s bill in order to protect the Los Alamitos track from close geographical competition. Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-La Habra) withdrew his opposition to the legislation when a related bill was amended to extend the Orange County Fair’s racing season by four days, from 14 to 18.

The purpose of extending the fair’s racing season, which is held at the Los Alamitos track, was to compensate it for revenue lost by not having satellite wagering.

Jill Lloyd, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Fair Board, said fair officials were not pleased by Wednesday’s vote despite the planned extension of their racing season. “We are disappointed that Sen. Maddy’s bill did not include us,” she said.

However, she said fair officials will not continue to fight the legislation.

“It’s a touchy situation because so many other fairs are going to benefit from it,” she said. “It’s not our intention to have these other fairs lose out.”

Under Maddy’s bill, the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona and the Antelope Valley Fair in Lancaster would be eligible to broadcast and take bets on races held outside Los Angeles and Orange counties. Two fair sites in Los Angeles County also were excluded from the measure.

Said Donald Robbins, general manager of Hollywood Park, which owns the Los Alamitos track: “We were very much in favor of the bill because it’s a way to expand racing in Southern California. The impact on track attendance will be less than 2.5%. . . . It makes horse racing accessible to more people.”

Compromises Made

Del Mar officials said their seaside track will benefit greatly from the increased revenue. Joe Harper, executive director of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, said his organization originally opposed the bill because it limited future growth of Del Mar’s purses.

“That was taken out of the bill,” said Harper. “Compromises were made that we felt we could live with.”

Santa Anita officials have estimated that Del Mar purses will increase from the current $208,000 a day to about $260,000, a jump of more than 20%.

Maddy’s legislation includes provisions that would cut tracks’ costs by changing several longstanding industry practices. For example, the cost of veterinarians and drug-testing for horses and the salaries of stewards to supervise the racing would be transferred from the tracks to the state.

Times staff writer Daniel M. Weintraub contributed to this article.