Instant Racing Approved At Kentucky Downs

{Kentucky}...The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission unanimously approved the first expanded gambling at a state horse track Thursday when it agreed to allow a game known as Instant Racing at Kentucky Downs. Kentucky Downs in south-central Kentucky, which had requested permission to implement the game in which gamblers bet on past horse races using slot-like devices, plans to invest $3 million and hire 85 workers to implement the new betting option. The commission approved the request by a voice vote with no opposition. Corey Johnsen, president of Kentucky Downs, says plans are to have 200 devices offering the new wager prior to September 10th, when the track at Franklin, near the Tennessee border, opens its four-day meet. In Instant Racing, tracks accept pari-mutuel bets on rebroadcasts of old races, stripped of the names of the horses, jockeys and trainers. The Franklin County Circuit Court, in Frankfort, ruled in December that the Instant Racing machines are pari-mutuel in nature and therefore legal under current Kentucky law.