If it looks like a slot machine, pays off like a slot machine and eats money like a slot machine, then it must be… a duck. Or, as proponents for Idaho’s Proposition 1 will suggest, historical horse racing terminals.
Jonathan Krutz, who teaches economics and marketing at Boise State University, doesn’t buy that line. “What this proposal does is asking Idaho voters to legalize slot machines.” As he sees it, they’re essentially the same kind of push-button bandits that can be found in Las Vegas, Jackpot and the Coeur d’Alene Casino in Worley.
Sure, it’s possible for players of the historical races to analyze racing forms and bet on horses to win, place and show. It’s even possible to view full versions of a race. But that’s more than most people go through on a 25-cent bet.
“Nobody does that,” said Krutz, who said he observed gamblers when the machines were in use a few years ago at the Les Bois track in Garden City. “They were spinning the reels and hitting the button every five seconds. The fact that you could bet on a horse race on the machines is irrelevant to any gambling.”
The machines contain a small screen that shows the finish of a given race. But the quick flash hardly promoted appreciation for historical horse racing.
So … historical racing terminals are slot machines, in Krutz’s book. And there’s a good chance that Proposition 1 will face a court challenge if it passes. Idaho’s Constitution is clear: Gambling is allowed for a state lottery and pari-mutuel betting – meaning that live horse racing can happen anywhere in the state. Activities such as slot machines are specifically prohibited, except on the tribal lands.
Krutz and other opponents of the ballot initiative have no control over tribal gaming but are doing everything they can to stop the ballot initiative – while going against a heavy advertising campaign to promote the proposition. That campaign, he says, is filled with deception. For instance, Idaho politicians did not specifically stop horse racing.
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