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Senate committee amends and advances bill to give cities and counties more say over simulcasting
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Summary
Senate File 45, a comprehensive local-control bill for simulcasting and historic horse-racing terminals, was amended with stakeholder language from counties, municipalities and operators and advanced by a 5–0 roll call. The measure clarifies approval, renewal and revocation procedures and retains the 100-mile rule for many supporters.
The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Senate File 45 after adopting a bundle of stakeholder amendments intended to clarify local authority over simulcasting and off-track wagering (OTV) operations.
Sponsor Senator Kolb described the bill as a comprehensive effort to "give local authorities the ability to say no" on site-specific simulcasting permits and to provide a clearer path for dealing with existing licenses, renewals and revocations. He told the committee the measure aims to "be fair to the municipalities, to the people of the state of Wyoming, to deal with the businesses that are in our community" by creating site-specific approval and appeal processes.
The committee heard technical and policy testimony from several parties. Nick Laramendi, Executive Director of the Wyoming Gaming Commission, said implementation "wouldn't be problematic" for the commission but suggested drafting clarifications (for example, replacing the word "acted" with "been found" when describing violations and changing a permit-continuation date to December 31 for permit-year consistency). Ashley Harpstreet of the Wyoming Association of Municipalities and Jeremiah Reeman of the Wyoming County Commissioners Association both urged stronger local input and the ability for local governments to impose conditions such as hours or location restrictions. Operators testified with varying positions: Cowboy Racing (represented by attorneys from Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck) asked that the bill retain the 100-mile rule and parity of judicial-review rights for new applicants; established operators (Wyoming Downs / 307 Horse Racing) said they generally support the bill with the proposed consensus amendments and flagged places needing clearer language.
After debate and technical edits (including adopting language to treat some intra-jurisdictional location changes as renewals, substituting 'vicinity' for 'jurisdiction' in one provision, and adjusting dates and violation-language), the committee adopted the stakeholder amendment package and voted 5–0 to advance the bill to the floor. Senator Kolb said he will floor-manage the measure.
The hearing record shows the committee prioritized negotiated, cross-stakeholder language to address long-standing court and statutory uncertainties, while leaving contested issues — notably the right of appeal for initial applications and the 100-mile rule — for further floor debate or separate bills.
