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An Act To Preserve and Ensure Equitable Funding of Maine's Commercial Racetracks
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 8 MRSA §275-A, sub-§1, ¶A, as amended by PL 2003, c. 401, §10, is further amended to read:
 
A.  If the population of the region is 300,000 or more, based on the 1990 U.S. Census, conducted racing on more than 10050 days in each of the previous 2 calendar years, except that if a racetrack that qualifies as a commercial track under this paragraph ceases operation, a separate racetrack operated by the owner or operator of the racetrack that ceased operation qualifies as a commercial track, and for all purposes is considered the same commercial track as the track that ceased operation, if the population of the region of that separate racetrack is 300,000 or more, based on the 1990 U.S. Census, and the sum of the number of days on which racing was conducted at the track that ceased operation and the number of days on which racing was conducted at the separate racetrack equals at least 100 days in each of the 2 preceding calendar years and except that a track that is authorized in such a region to operate slot machines or a casino must provide at least 100 days of live racing each year to qualify as a commercial track; or
Sec. 2. 8 MRSA §275-B, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2011, c. 142, §1, is further amended to read:
 
1. Racetracks.   A person licensed pursuant to section 271 to conduct harness horse racing with pari-mutuel betting may sell pari-mutuel pools and common pari-mutuel pools for simulcast races. The seller must be within the enclosure of the racetrack where the licensed race or race meet is conducted or within the licensee's slot machine facilities licensed pursuant to section 1011. The commission shall adopt rules regulating the sale by commercial tracks of pari-mutuel pools by telephone, Internet or other means of communication to a person not located on the premises, which must require advance payment by the person.
 
Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.
Sec. 3. 8 MRSA §299, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 687, Pt. A, §4 and affected by Pt. B, §11, is amended to read:
 
2. Distribution.   On May 30th, September 30th and January 30th, all amounts credited to the fund established by this section as of the last day of the preceding month and not distributed before that day must be distributed to each commercial track licensed under section 271, with each track receiving that amount of the money available for distribution determined by multiplying that amount times a fraction, the numerator of which is the total number of live race days conducted by the commercial track during the preceding time period2012 and the denominator of which is the total number of race days conducted by all commercial tracks licensed under section 271 during that time period2012. The payment in January must be adjusted so that for the prior 3 time periods each commercial track receives that fraction of the total money distributed over the full year from the fund established by this section, the amount determined by multiplying the total amount of money times a fraction, the numerator of which is the number of live race days conducted by the commercial track during the calendar year and the denominator of which is the total number of race days conducted by all commercial tracks licensed under section 271 during that calendar year.
 
SUMMARY
This bill amends the definition of "commercial track" by changing the number of racing days from 100 to 50 and by adding that a race track that is operated in place of a race track that ceased operation and that is authorized to operate slot machines or a casino must provide at least 100 days of live racing each year to qualify as a commercial track.
The bill also changes the way the distribution of funds is calculated by basing the calculation on the number of race days conducted during the year 2012. It also removes the provision governing the January payment adjustment
The bill also requires the State Harness Racing Commission to establish rules regulating the sale by commercial tracks of pari-mutuel pools by the telephone, Internet or other means of communication to persons not located on the premises.