Specifies who can operate a handicapping tournament; requires handicapping tournament operators to distribute no less than eighty percent of entry fees as prizes to the winners of a handicapping tournament.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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7034--A
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 25, 2021
___________
Introduced by Sen. ADDABBO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Racing, Gaming and Wager-
ing -- recommitted to the Committee on Racing, Gaming and Wagering in
accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee
AN ACT to amend the racing, pari-mutuel wagering and breeding law, in
relation to handicapping tournaments
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 906 of the racing, pari-mutuel wagering and breed-
2 ing law, as added by chapter 2 of the laws of 1995, and as renumbered
3 and subdivision 1 as amended by chapter 18 of the laws of 2008, and
4 paragraph (b) of subdivision 2 as amended by chapter 243 of the laws of
5 2020, is amended to read as follows:
6 § 906. Handicapping tournaments. 1. Notwithstanding any other
7 provision of law, a thoroughbred racing corporation, including a fran-
8 chise corporation, a harness racing corporation or association, a
9 regional off-track betting corporation or a combination thereof, or a
10 party that contracts with any of the foregoing, may operate a handicap-
11 ping tournament at which the participants may be charged an entry fee if
12 the tournament is conducted in accordance with the provisions of this
13 section.
14 2. (a) The operator of a handicapping tournament shall distribute no
15 less than eighty percent of all of the entry fees as prizes to the
16 winners of the tournament. Nothing herein shall preclude an operator
17 from providing additional prizes or promotions.
18 (b) The commission shall approve the rules and the payment of prizes
19 of a handicapping tournament. No operator of a handicapping tournament
20 may accept an entry fee for a tournament until the commission has
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11686-03-2
S. 7034--A 2
1 approved the rules and the payment of prizes of a handicapping tourna-
2 ment.
3 (c) The horse races which are the subject of the tournament must be
4 races on which the operator of the tournament is authorized to conduct
5 wagering. [At least fifty percent of the races which are the subject of
6 the tournament must be races run in New York state.]
7 3. A handicapping tournament operated in accordance with the
8 provisions of this section shall be considered a contest of skill and
9 shall not be considered gambling.
10 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
