Horse Racing

NTRA President, CEO Rooney Join Writers Room Podcast


Tom Rooney, a former Congressman, attorney and military veteran, was hired to take on the top leadership position at NTRA because the NTRA Council knew he could make a difference in Washington. About two years later and with the swinging pendulum of the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA), Rooney was in full swing. This week, Rooney sits down with the upper team TDN Writer’s room podcast presented by Keeneland to discuss what he and his staff are doing to advocate for the sport. Rooney is Green Group Guest of the week.

The NTRA supports HISA, which means Rooney has been working behind the scenes to lobby lawmakers to support legislation to change the language referring to HISA so it can respond to issues raised by the appellate court concerned. The issuing state declared that HISA was unconstitutional. If the language is not changed, HISA is most likely dead. Rooney said his efforts include discussions with both Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer. In the end, the NTRA forces and HISA supporters got their wish.

“[Schumer and McConnell] Both recognize that it is important for our industry to have consistent standards and ensure track safety as well as accountability and integrity for us to move forward.” Rooney said. “We held those two men responsible, especially we needed to fix this language, and we were able to get it done despite pretty good resistance from HISA opponents. So we had to work very hard to ensure that we would highlight the issue again with those two men and that the rest of the members would vote to take issue with it. A few days ago, I phoned members of the Senate that I was friends with to explain this to them. A lot of people don’t know what it means. They thought it meant more of an overreach by the government than something that would help our industry. And I think once they understand that, they move on to the next thing.”

Despite his success, Rooney said he worries that his efforts won’t be successful.

“I am not optimistic at all,” he said. “I think I’ve told the people on the phone that we meet on a daily or weekly basis that we have a 5% chance of success.”

What matters now is whether the new language means that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will be pleased to address constitutional issues and allow HISA to proceed.

“I’m confident and that’s because I think we’ve dealt with the exact issues of the court,” Rooney said. “There will be litigation and there will be scenes made in other parts of the bill that are not related to the ruling. I don’t think it’s fatal. And even if they are ruled against, I think they can be separated without having to retry with a legislative fix, which will be even more difficult for this Congress.”

Looking to the future, Rooney said horse racing needs to partner with sports betting sites so their customers can bet on the race and get exposure to the sport. Currently, most online betting on racing is limited to brick-and-mortar ADW stores such as TwinSpires, TVG and XpressBet, and sports bettors do not have access to racing.

“One thing that I am focusing on to help reach the next generation is what I can do at the federal level to try to get what is called a single wallet on sports betting apps. ,” he say. “One of my biggest focuses for the benefit of gamblers is trying to figure out how to integrate horse racing, which, as you all know, is the only legal sport in our country for gambling. for the longest time. And now we’re competing in certain states with all the sports. FanDuel is one of my board members and we were able to work with them to host horse racing on the FanDuel sharing app. So you don’t have to close one app to open another…I remember my son asking me: ‘Dad, who’s going to win the Kentucky Derby? And then he said, ‘Why can’t it be found on my app?’”

Elsewhere on the podcast, also sponsored by coolerthe Kentucky Thoroughbred Society, Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, XBTV and https://www.threechimneys.com/ Purebred West Point, Zoe Cadman, Randy Moss, and Bill Finley discussed GIII Sham S. and the incredible depth that Bob Baffert has in the 3-year-old men’s division. Baffert finished one two three in Sham and had three of the top seven horses in Top 12 Derby of TD Thornton. There was also talk about Statistics for the end of 2022 published by Equibase where the wallet increased by 10.92% although the handle decreased by 0.87%. The team notes that, unfortunately, the growth in purses is not due to the growth of the sport but only to external revenue from casino games. The podcast ended on an upbeat note with a discussion of Joree Scriver’s remarkable recovery after it was feared she was paralyzed in an oil spill in Sunland Park.

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