Congress in Horse Racing

[Zippy Chippy]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

This may be the first sign of the end of horseracing.

Fact- Racing commissions may be inept but at least some have a few people who give a danm about the sport. Wait till you see who these 2 clowns pick to run the Federal commission. Guess how the feds pay for things? They raise taxes, and since horseplayers have no group lobbying for them the fist thing to be attached to the sport will most likely be a federal takeout on all bets. Sounds like a good idea still? What about if they make it 5% accross the board to pay for all the changes they want to implement? Sound good still?

Having incompetence on a national level rather than a state level and paying more for the priviledge seems like a bad idea to me.

The federal government has ruined more industries with intervention than they have helped. Horseracing has no chance to survive federal intervention. None.

This could only be good in one way: if it finally forces the horse racing industry to voluntarily create a single governing body to regulate and promote the game. The current system of 38 different sets of rules and 38 different governing bodies has hindered the game for too long.

When other industries were faced with the threat of government intervention, they were able to avoid it by creating an all-powerful organization to self-regulate the industry. They got their act together in time to keep the government out. I hope that this will be the wake up call that the horse racing industry needs to create a single governing body for the industry.

The message should be clear: If the horsemen don't do it, then Congress will. And god help the game if it does.