Thursday, July 5,
2018 - In the aftermath of the US
Supreme Court ruling which clears the way for states to authorize and regulate
wagering on sports other than horseracing, the ARCI will consider expanding its
portfolio beyond wagering on pari-mutuel horse and greyhound contests to those
involving human athletes and teams.
When it meets next
Tuesday and Wednesday in Omaha, Nebraska, the ARCI Model Rules Committee will
consider taking the first step in this direction by working on a set of model
regulations based upon the existing sports betting rules currently in place in
Nevada.
“Up until recently,
except for Nevada, the only legal sports wagering authorized has been on horse
or greyhound racing. The regulatory
structure in place for these sports and the processing of wagers can easily be
adopted to accommodate wagering on other sports,” ARCI President Ed Martin
said.
The proposed rules to
be considered parallel the rules currently in place by the only ARCI Member that
has been regulating sports wagering – the Nevada Gaming Control Board. He predicted that the Association would give
preliminary approval to the interim rules to provide some level of guidance to
state agencies being assigned this regulatory responsibility.
The ARCI Board will
also consider an amendment to its By Laws creating a new class of member,
government agencies that regulate sports betting. While those ARCI members who are stand-alone
horse racing commissions may have nothing to do with sports betting should it
be authorized in their state, other ARCI member agencies in New York,
Massachusetts, Michigan, Florida, Iowa and South Dakota may have this added to
their regulatory responsibilities.
The ARCI has
considerable experience in working with affected constituencies in the
development of model regulatory policies and it is anticipated that a process will
be created and defined to ensure that any league, team, federation or
individual athlete involved with the conduct of a human sport for which sports
betting will occur will be given the opportunity to participate. The ARCI has already reached out to the
major sports leagues and gaming companies.
The ARCI standards
currently cover occupational and entity licensure, technology standards for the
processing of wagers, consumer protections, and security matters. Each of these has a degree of adaptability to
sports wagering.
The Model Rules
Committee agenda and all pending items to be considered can be accessed through
the committee’s website http://www.arcimodelrules.online/
The committee will
also consider:
- · A modification to the recently adopted Model Rules concerning concussion protocols in flat racing
- · A proposal from the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau (TRPB) concerning horse ID and chip technology
- · A United States Trotting Association (USTA) protocol to combat “bearded” trainers
