Wyoming lawmakers on gaming committee revisit local control of HHR machines

Yahoo

11-06-2025

CHEYENNE — Local control over simulcast permits will be the primary focus of Wyoming's new Select Committee on Gaming this year, as lawmakers prepare to draft a bill for the next legislative session.
Chairman Sen. John Kolb, R-Rock Springs, reminded committee members the next session — which begins in early February — is a budget session. This means all non-budget bills will need to pass a two-thirds introductory vote for the Legislature's consideration.
'In the past, you know, we have not been successful legislatively (with gambling),' Kolb said during the committee's first meeting in Casper on Monday.
Sen. John Kolb, R-Rock Springs (2025)
Sen. John Kolb, R-Rock Springs
Last year, members of the Legislature's Joint Appropriations Committee voted to sponsor five gambling-related bills for this year's legislative session. Four of the five bills died immediately, and one made it through the House of Representatives before dying in the Senate.
Gambling in Wyoming recently exploded into a billion-dollar industry, and lawmakers are scrambling to decide what action is needed from the state to further regulate it. Legislative leadership assigned gambling as a study topic to the JAC last year, and a working group was formed, led by former Rep. Tom Walters, R-Casper.
Since then, it's become apparent to lawmakers that gambling is a complicated issue. In response, the Management Council created a new select committee entirely focused on gambling in April.
The committee has three meetings scheduled during the Legislature's off-season, formally known as the interim. Given the short amount of time, Kolb suggested starting with the framework of House Bill 85, which promotes local control over simulcast permits.
HB 85 made it the farthest last session before dying in the Senate.
'Local control is very high on the list of things that need to be dealt with first,' Kolb said. 'We have to keep our eye on the ball and focus on what's achievable.'
He also urged unified support between the two legislative chambers once this bill is drafted and filed for the session.
'We need the House, as we need the Senate, to work on a product,' Kolb said. 'We may not always have 100% agreement with that, but we need to have enough agreement that we want to move this forward.'
HB 85 background
A simulcast permit is needed to establish off-track betting sites (OTBs) and historic horse racing (HHR) machines. County commissioners reserve the sole authority to approve or deny these permits. However, state statute doesn't give the county any power to regulate gambling beyond the initial approval.
Still, commissioners have incorporated limitations within approved simulcast permits, but these have yet to be challenged in court, said Wyoming County Commissioners Association Executive Director Jerimiah Rieman. It's unclear whether regulations imposed by commissioners would survive litigation.
The Wyoming Supreme Court ruled in 2023 under the 'the plain and unambiguous language of the Pari-Mutuel Act' that county commissioners cannot revoke permits after granting approval.
'Once the commissioners say yes, they have no other authorities,' Rieman said. 'They've transferred that responsibility to the (Wyoming) Gaming Commission.'
Rieman proposed a bill draft before the JAC in 2024, the original version of HB 85, that initially outlined regulatory authority to county commissioners once a simulcast permit is approved, including the ability to revoke a permit 'if there's good reason to do so.'
The draft underwent several revisions, including an amendment that extended approval authority to city and town governments for simulcasting permits within city limits.
'Do I like where HB 85 got to? No,' Rieman said, although he mentioned his support for extending approval authority to city and town governments. 'But this is an important issue for us.'
Rep. Jayme Lien, R-Casper (2025)
Rep. Jayme Lien, R-Casper
Co-Chairwoman Rep. Jayme Lien, R-Casper, asked Rieman if counties could regulate gambling entities through zoning laws. The county commissioner said he spoke with 11 of the counties with HHR machines last week, and none of them have specific zoning for HHR operations.
'It is important to note that there are a number of counties where zoning is not part of a lexicon,' Rieman said. 'And I doubt we'll have zoning anytime in the near future, and I suspect most of the others will not.'
He added that most HHR machines operate within city and town limits, which are outside of county jurisdiction to implement zoning policy. Furthermore, zoning regulations do not grant authority to revoke simulcasting permits.
'You're gonna have to give us that,' Rieman said.
City, town control
City and town government leaders have also been frustrated by their inability to control how many HHR machines pop up within their jurisdiction. Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins previously told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle he supported HB 85.
'My frustration right now is that we have 10 approved casinos inside the city limits, and our governing body had no input on their approval,' Collins said. 'We're the governing body closest to the people living in Cheyenne, and I think we should have had the responsibility for making that decision.'
Wyoming Association of Municipalities (WAM) Executive Director Ashley Harpstreith said OTBs impact city resources, including law enforcement, first responders, street maintenance and other public services.
Ashley Harpstreith
Ashley Harpstreith
She added that city zoning ordinances are not enough to regulate the social and welfare issues from this industry.
'We need legislation to allow local governments (the) ability to impose specific conditions on permits, such as hours of operation or location restrictions based on their unique needs and concerns,' Harpstreith said.
Cheyenne City Council President Mark Rinne said six of the seven properly zoned HHR sites in the city were approved through the Cheyenne Board of Adjustment. However, members of this board are not elected by the public, he said.
'They are not beholden to the public as (city) council members are,' Rinne said. 'Unless you have to go to the Board of Adjustment for something, you don't even know they exist. We may indirectly have control through zoning, but honestly we do not.'
100-mile rule
Under the 100-mile rule, no simulcasting may be conducted within 100 miles of a live horse racing event. The Gaming Commission may waive the 100-mile limitation 'if the simulcast permit application includes written approval from the permittee whose permitted premises is within the 100-mile limitation,' according to W.S. 11-25-102(a)(vii)(C).
Kolb recalled his days as a county commissioner, when the 100-mile rule first came about. Race tracks in Uinta and Sweetwater counties were going out of business due to lack of public attendance, he said.
'Now, with HHR, we don't have that issue anymore,' Kolb said. 'It's certainly a new day.'
307 Horse Racing President Kyle Ridgeway previously testified in February, during the session, that the 100-mile rule 'hurt our business' by forcing OTB vendors to close during a live horse racing event. Both Reiman and Harpstreith, representing county commissioners and local municipalities, respectively, said their organizations supported getting rid of the 100-mile rule entirely.
However, attorney and former Cheyenne Republican lawmaker Affie Ellis urged caution against wiping out this rule.
Former Sen. Affie Ellis
Former Sen. Affie Ellis.
'I think it's a very effective tool that ties the HHR activity to the growth of Wyoming's horse racing industry,' Ellis said.
Revenue from HHR machines contributes to the purse of horse racing events, which is key to the survival of horse racing tracks in Wyoming, Ellis said. The purpose of the 100-mile rule is 'to incentivize more horse tracks coming online.'
In a follow-up phone call on Tuesday, Ellis told the WTE the rule is an opportunity for purse contribution negotiations between track operators and OTB vendors. She added it's not the intention of Cowboy Racing, her client, to shut down OTB vendors during race days.
Cowboy Racing recently completed construction of Wyoming's first full-size live horse racing track 10 miles east of Cheyenne at Thunder Plains Park. The company has said it intends to operate at least three gaming facilities within the city limits of Cheyenne.
'We don't want anyone to close during our race times and race days,' Ellis said. 'If the agreement has a reliance on a percentage of that gaming revenue, we want that (OTB) to be open because that supports the purse.'
Lawmakers will consider different bill drafts regarding local control at their next meeting in Evanston on Aug. 8-9.