Reports out of Indiana indicate that a proposal to drastically slash funding for thoroughbred and harness racing was not included in the recent state budget
. As a result, Indiana will continue with most of the $60 million in annual slot machine revenue now dedicated to horse racing purses.
From that total, a small amount will now be transferred to anti-smoking programs and racetrack improvements at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
House Ways and Means Chairman Jeff Espich had previously proposed reducing the subsidies by more than half, to $27 million per year. That budget draft cleared his committee but was not approved by state legislators.
Espich called the cut of slot revenue "a wonderful thing for [horse racing], but it's horrible for everybody else. We don't subsidize raising pigs or cows or soybeans or anything else. We literally don't subsidize any other industry regardless of the technology significance of it. So, it's totally inappropriate for that money to be going to that industry."