Betting taxes cut in California

Press, 21 October 1980, Page 32

Betting taxes cut in California

From JOHN HUTCHISON in San Francisco .

New legislation,-, driven through the state government by the rich and muscular horse-racing lobby, will; reduce the state’s taxes -on betting, permit more days of racing, and . add two members to the present five on the California Horse Racing Board. . . , The law, revising the method used to calculate taxes on bets, is expected to reduce the state’s revenue by $2O million —' about one-

sixth — when it goes into, effect in 1981. Racing will generate about $l7OO million in legal bets in 1980, with the state taking about $122 million, according to Len Foote, executive secretary of the board. '■ The‘ new law will also permit the addition of . several weeks annually to thoroughbred and quarter-horse meetings, and reduce licence fees for harness racing, a change expected to stimulate standardbred meetings, which at. present do not fill the available dates. • ; . .. The 'racing industry claims the tax reduction is necessary because attendance at California race, meetings has fallen, but the boards estimate for 1980 betting totals is above last year s figure of $1563 million bet legally at. the tracks. (A national study in 1978 produced an estimate that about s9om was bet annually illegally in Caligomia). Of California’s 15 tracks, six are large, separate , enterprises. Most of the others are integated with showgrounds.