PRINTER'S NO. 523
No. 512 Session of 1981
INTRODUCED BY O'CONNELL, LOEPER, STAPLETON AND MELLOW,
MARCH 17, 1981
REFERRED TO AGRICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS, MARCH 17, 1981
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of December 22, 1959 (P.L.1978, No.728),
2 entitled, as amended, "An act providing for and regulating
3 harness racing with pari-mutuel wagering on the results
4 thereof; creating the State Harness Racing Commission as a
5 departmental administrative commission within the Department
6 of Agriculture and defining its powers and duties; providing
7 for the establishment and operation of harness racing plants
8 subject to local option; imposing taxes on revenues of such
9 plants; disposing of all moneys received by the commission
10 and all moneys collected from the taxes; authorizing
11 penalties; and making appropriations," further providing for
12 the number of days in a calendar year for which corporations
13 may be licensed to conduct harness racing.
14 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
15 hereby enacts as follows:
16 Section 1. Section 5, act of December 22, 1959 (P.L.1978,
17 No.728), referred to as the Pennsylvania Harness Racing Law,
18 amended January 2, 1973 (1972 P.L.1737, No.374), is amended to
19 read:
20 Section 5. Pari-mutuel Betting at Harness Races.--No more
21 than five corporations shall be licensed by the State Harness
22 Racing Commission in any one year to conduct a pari-mutuel meet
23 or meets. No corporation shall be licensed to conduct harness
1 racing for more than one hundred days in any calendar year. The
2 commission may at its discretion, upon the written request of a
3 licensed corporation, grant to such licensed corporation an
4 additional number of racing days in any calendar year but in no
5 case shall any additional grant exceed fifty additional racing
6 days. If a licensed corporation loses racing days due to reasons
7 beyond its control, the commission may grant it additional
8 racing days to make up for those it lost in the next succeeding
9 year. Said pari-mutuel betting conducted at such meeting shall
10 be under the general supervision and control of the State
11 Harness Racing Commission which shall make rules regulating the
12 conduct of such pari-mutuel betting in accordance with the
13 provisions of this act. The Department of Revenue is charged
14 with the financial administration of pari-mutuel betting as
15 prescribed in this act and as supplemented by the rules and
16 regulations of the State Harness Racing Commission. The
17 Department of Revenue shall have authority to prescribe the
18 forms and the system of accounting to be employed, and through
19 its representatives shall, at all times, have power of access
20 to, and examination of, any equipment relating to such betting.
21 Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
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