Tag: HHR machines

Kentucky Downs offers $150,000 maiden races, the largest purses in the world. The boutique meet expanded to seven days with a record $17.95 million in purses. (Image: Grace Clark/Kentucky Downs)

Kentucky Downs Announces Record Purses, Added Races

- 2 min read

Kentucky Downs officials announced the boutique meet’s 2022 schedule, which features record purses, expanded stakes, and the richest maiden races in the world. The seven-day meet, which runs Sept. 1, 3, 4, 8, 10, 11, and 14 over the all-turf, kidney-shaped track, offers 17 stakes worth a record $10.7 million. […]

Kentucky horseplayers betting on horses like John Battaglia Memorial winner Tiz the Bomb will benefit from a bill reducing breakage to a penny. The bill HB 607, passed the Kentucky State Senate this week and is expected to be signed by Gov. Andy Beshear. (Image: Coady Photography)

Bettors Cash a Long-Awaited Ticket as Kentucky Eliminates Breakage

- 3 min read

It went by Kentucky HB 607, an innocuous name for a bill that could put millions of dollars into horseplayers’ wallets after its Tuesday passage in the Kentucky State Senate. That bill, which heads back to the House for concurrence after sailing through the state senate 33-1, virtually eliminates breakage. […]

Historic Horse Racing machines like these in Virginia are headed to Louisiana and New Hampshire, after both states approved legislation for the slot-like machines. (Image: Rosie's Gaming Emporium)

Louisiana, New Hampshire Latest States Welcoming HHR Machines

- 2 min read

Two more states joined the Historical Horse Racing machine parade this week, when Louisiana and New Hampshire passed legislation approving HHR machines. On Tuesday, the Louisiana Senate passed SB 209 by a 32-3 vote. That gives off-track betting facilities license to install up to 50 HHR machines per OTB facility. […]

Churchill Downs plays host to more than the Kentucky Derby this spring. It's offering 40 stakes races worth a record $13.44 million in purses. (Image: Kentuckyderby.com/Churchill Downs)

Record Churchill Downs Spring Meet Purses Come Up Roses

- 3 min read

Churchill Downs released its Spring Meet stakes schedule on Monday, led of course, by the May 1 Kentucky Derby. But, along with America’s most famous horse race, come 39 other stakes races worth a track-record $13.44 million. Churchill Downs opens its nine-week spring season on April 24. The 38-day meet […]

Historical Horse Racing (HHR) machines are now legal in Kentucky again. That state's governor, Andy Beshear, signed SB 120 Tuesday, redefining pari-mutuel wagering to include HHR machines. (Image: Katherine Jones/Idaho Statesman)

Kentucky Governor Signs HHR Bill, Keeps the Machines On

- 3 min read

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear signed Senate Bill 120 Tuesday, legalizing historical horse racing machines and protecting the economic impact they have on the state’s signature equine industry. For now, that ends the legal saga on whether the slot-like machines meet the definition of pari-mutuel wagering. Introduced in January by State […]

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he will sign a bill legalizing historical horse racing machines the moment it hits his desk. (Image: Timothy D. Easley/Associated Press)

Kentucky Governor Chomping at the Bit to Sign HHR Machine Bill

- 2 min read

With legislation legalizing historical horse racing (HHR) machines meandering toward his desk, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear told a virtual meeting of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission Tuesday he will sign the bill “as fast as it reaches my desk.” Beshear told the commissioners he couldn’t sign Senate Bill 120 last […]

The Kentucky House of Representatives passed a bill legalizing historical horse racing machines -- a key economic engine for the state's racing industry. (Image: Marcus Dorsey/Lexington Herald-Leader)

Kentucky House Passes HHR Bill, Heads to Governor for Signing

- 3 min read

In a move illustrating the speed of Kentucky legislators when it comes to that state’s Thoroughbred horse industry, the Kentucky House of Representatives approved Senate Bill 120 on Thursday night, legalizing Historical Horse Racing (HHR) machines. The measure passed 55-38, two days after it cleared the Kentucky State Senate, 22-15. […]

Historical Horse Racing (HHR) machines resemble slot machines, which are banned in Kentucky. They provided $2.2 billion to Kentucky's economy in 2019 and are a major economic engine for the state's key Thoroughbred industry. (Image: Canadian Thoroughbred Magazine)

Kentucky Supreme Court Rejects HHR Appeal, Lawmakers Up Next?

- 3 min read

In the latest salvo fired in the ongoing debate about historical horse racing (HHR) machines in Kentucky, the state’s Supreme Court denied an appeal from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission requesting a second opinion on the legality of those machines. The Kentucky Supreme Court refused to reconsider its Sept. 24 […]

Derby City Gaming HHR machines in Louisville played their parts in fueling a $2.26 billion industry benefiting Kentucky racing and breeding. (Image: WDRB.com)

Kentucky Horse Racing Industry Goes on Offensive for HHR Machines

- 3 min read

The Kentucky Thoroughbred Association petitioned to file an amicus brief this week, seeking a return of the historical horse racing (HHR) machines recently outlawed by the Kentucky Supreme Court. The petition comes on the heels of an amicus brief filed last week by the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce illustrating the […]

Kentucky Downs Director of Marketing John Wholihan plays one of the facility's HHR machines. One type of machine was ruled illegal in a state Supreme Court ruling. (Image: Grace Ramey/Bowling Green Daily News)

Kentucky Supreme Court Rules Against Purse-Fueling HHR Machines

- 3 min read

While horseplayers and horse connections from Santa Anita to Belmont Park were prepping for a huge weekend of stakes races, a decision by the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled some historical horse racing (HHR) machines are illegal, sending a chill through Kentucky racing. A chill that depressed Churchill Downs Inc. stock […]