Section 300. Operations of the mutuel department

A. Generally. Each licensee shall strive to keep the daily program of racing progressing as expeditiously as possible with due regard for the health, safety, and comfort of the public and participants. The licensee shall provide a sufficient number of mutuel windows and clerks so that the public will be conveniently accommodated.

B. Post time. Post time for the first race on each racing day shall be approved by the commission upon written request by the licensee. Post time for subsequent races on the same program shall be fixed by the mutuel manager. Where heat racing is utilized in harness racing, the time between separate heats of a single race shall not be less than 40 minutes.

C. Termination of wagering. The pari-mutuel machines shall be locked by a steward immediately upon the start of the race through an electrical control in the stewards' stand or before the start of a race through a method subject to the approval of the commission.

D. Unwarranted delays. If the start of the race is delayed two minutes or more beyond the official post time, as shown on the display devices, for no good reason, the stewards may, in their discretion, lock the ticket-issuing machines.

E. Commencement of wagering. Mutuel windows shall open no less than 30 minutes before the first race. Cashing of tickets shall begin, and selling shall resume, as soon as possible after the official results of a race have been posted on the display devices.

F. Interruptions of wagering. If, for any reason, including a malfunction of the totalizator, the ticket-issuing machines are locked during the wagering on a race before the start, they shall remain locked until after the race. Wagering shall cease on that race, and the payout for that race shall be computed on the sums then wagered in each pool. However, in the event the ticket-issuing machines are inadvertently locked through some human error or mechanical problem, the ticket-issuing machines shall be reopened only on the approval of the stewards, if the system balances when it is again operational.

G. Conclusion of wagering. No pari-mutuel tickets may be sold after the totalizator has been locked, and the licensee shall not be responsible for pari-mutuel ticket sales entered into but not completed by issuance of a ticket before the totalizator has been locked.

H. Designated windows. No pari-mutuel tickets shall be sold except by the licensee, and pari-mutuel tickets shall only be sold at regular windows properly designated by signs and freestanding self-service or ticket issuing devices.

I. Compliance with tax regulations. All payouts on winning tickets shall be subject to withholding of federal and state taxes when the amount of the payout exceeds the dollar threshold set by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. In those cases where the payouts require identification and deduction of withholding taxes prior to cashing pari-mutuel tickets to holders, the licensee shall comply with the applicable regulations of the Internal Revenue Service and the statutes of the Commonwealth of Virginia requiring identification and deduction of withholding taxes.

J. Emergency situations. If any emergency arises in connection with the operation of the mutuel department at a racetrack or satellite facility and the emergency is not covered by these regulations and an immediate decision is necessary, the mutuel manager shall make the decision, and make a prompt report of the facts to the stewards and the commission.

K. Simulcast pools. When wagers are commingled at a racetrack in another jurisdiction, the licensee shall make payouts on winning wagers at the price posted at the racetrack where the live race took place. However, once wagering has commenced and circumstances prevent commingling some or all of the wagers to the racetrack in the other jurisdiction, the licensee, through a previously established written policy approved by the commission, shall:

1. Pay prices posted by the racetrack in the other jurisdiction;

2. Establish its own pools using the wagers that were not commingled with the racetrack in the other jurisdiction;

3. Refund all wagers, if an announcement is made not less than two minutes prior to the post time that commingling cannot be accomplished and the circumstances involve only one race; or

4. Refund all wagers, if the wager involves more than one race and an announcement that commingling cannot be accomplished by the start of the first race or not more than 10 minutes after the finish of the first race of the wager, unless there is a payout due a wager as a result of the first race.

Historical Notes

Derived from VR662-01-02 § 3.5, Volume 06, Issue 13, eff. April 25, 1990; Volume 14, Issue 01, eff. October 29, 1997; Volume 18, Issue 20, eff. May 22, 2002.

Statutory Authority

§ 59.1-369 of the Code of Virginia.