- The Louisiana House approved a bill to allow historic horse race betting machines at off track betting facilities.
- These machines are often compared to slot machines in terms of function.
- The bill has only a few days to pass the Louisiana Senate before the end of the session.
LAS VEGAS - Louisiana is close to allowing off-track betting facilities to offer historic horse racing machines.
These machines have been described as similar to slot machines, and the basic premise of them is that they are used to wager on horse races that have already taken place - usually years or decades ago.
The idea here is that the race outcome is wholly unknown to the person wagering at the time, which allows these machines to simulate the jackpot-style gameplay of a slot machine.
They’re not exactly slot machines, but they tend to fill a similar function in states where slot machines are not allowed, as a machine run form of effectively randomized gambling.
Intriguingly, they’re quite similar to the virtual horse race betting options offered at online sportsbooks, with the caveat that these races actually did happen at some point, as opposed to being wholly simulated.
The Louisiana State House approved SB209 by a vote of 85 in favor, 11 opposed, and 9 absent.
The bill will still need to pass the Senate, and the legislative session in Louisiana is swiftly drawing to a close.
Final adjournment of the 2021 Louisiana legislative session is set for no later than 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 10, 2021.
This means that the Senate only has a few days to approve this bill.
While the bill originally passed the Senate, the House made changes to it, and those changes must be approved before the deadline, or the bill will not pass.
The changes in question were restrictions to the amount of machines that can be installed in any given off track betting facility, as well as a requirement that voters approve the installation of new machines.
The original version of the bill was pushed hard by Louisiana Senate President Page Cortez, which bodes well for the bill in terms of likelihood of getting passed before the deadline.
Louisiana’s off track horse betting facilities will surely see a boost if this legislation passes the Senate, restrictions or no restrictions.