Request By:
Michael Davidson
Executive Director
Kentucky State Racing Commission
P.O. Box 1080
Lexington, Kentucky 40588
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Christopher W. Johnson, Assistant Attorney General
The Kentucky State Racing Commission has inquired if in the opinion of this office the Commission is authorized to license pari-mutuel wagering on steeplechase events in Kentucky. It is our opinion that the Commission has no such authority.
Pari-mutuel wagering may be conducted only by persons licensed to conduct a thoroughbred race meeting. KRS 230.361. Only those persons licensed by the Commission pursuant to KRS 230.210 to 230.360 are authorized to conduct a thoroughbred race meeting. KRS 230.280. The Commission is empowered to license those persons desiring to conduct a thoroughbred race meeting. KRS 230.300(1).
Considering these statutes together it would seem that the Commission is only authorized to license meetings and by being so licensed to conduct a meeting the licensee has the resulting power to conduct pari-mutuel wagering if it so desires. Of course, such wagering must be conducted pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Commission, KRS 230.361, but no separate license is statutorily required or authorized.
KRS 230.210(7) defines a thoroughbred race meeting in terms which exclude steeplechase events. Since the Commission lacks authority to grant a license to conduct a race except at a thoroughbred race meeting, KRS 230.200(1), steeplechase events are outside the jurisdiction of the Commission. Thus, since under the terms of KRS 230.361 no pari-mutuel wagering may be conducted except by persons license to conduct thoroughbred race meetings, the Commission has no authority to license pari-mutuel wagering at a steeplechase event.