The California Horse Racing Board’s wild rush toward exchange betting, which would give Betfair the first U.S. foothold it has long sought, was brought up short yesterday by the Senate President pro tem, Darrell Steinberg

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His office announced that the confirmation of four members of the California Horse Racing Board, including its chairman, Keith Brackpool, and its much publicized '10' member, Bo Derek, along with members David J. Israel and Richard A. Rosenberg, would not be considered at the moment. Steinberg has been reluctant to approve confirmations that would affect a new governor when Arnold Schwarzenegger leaves office in January.

A spokeswoman for Steinberg said merely that “The pro tem needed more time to think about the appointment,” but Capitol Weekly in Sacramento reported that Brackpool “now finds himself in the middle of a bitter fight over AB2414, a bill authored by Assembly Speaker John Perez, that would make huge changes in horse race betting in the state.”

Robert Hartman, general manager of Golden Gate Fields, dropped fuel on the fire when he said a statement of Betfair’s Stephen Burn, Betfair’s principal figurehead in America, was not true. Burn had agreed with racing board executive director Kirk Breed that “All of the stakeholders were involved in the board’s decision to approve exchange betting.”

Hartman said that was not so, that he was at the board’s August 19 meeting and the idea of putting exchange betting into the bill was never raised. He added, “There was never a conversation regarding exchange wagering. In the past there was some discussion on the topic, but there has never been any lengthy exchange regarding the specifics of exchange wagering.”

The Los Angeles Times reported that “Republicans have a number of other problems with the bill, most notably that it seeks to implement a major policy initiative with only one week left in the legislative session. This bill is the antithesis of transparency and open government.”

(Harness Tracks of America)

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