State AG’s Office: Intent is to “Destroy” Machines Confiscated at Santa Anita After 30 Days

[Wandering Eyes]

The 26 Racing on Demand slot machine-style parimutuel games—with distinct similarities to Historic Horse Racing—that were removed from Santa Anita by Department of Justice law enforcement officers Saturday afternoon will be destroyed after 30 days unless there's some intervening court action, according to a California Department of Justice “notice of intention to destroy machines and devices.”

The 30-day window began the day the notice was posted, which is dated January 17.

The notice was provided by the CA DOJ in response to a series of questions by the TDN about the reasoning behind Saturday's action to confiscate the machines. Los Angeles Turf Club senior vice-president Scott Daruty confirmed that Santa Anita had been provided with the notice Saturday.

According to the notice, “The destruction of said machines and devices will proceed, unless on or before the expiration of 30 days from the posting hereof, an action is commenced in a court of competent jurisdiction to recover the possession of said machines and devices.”

Lower down in the notice, it states that legal jurisdiction for such endeavors is given over to the Superior Court. If the machines are ultimately destroyed, any money seized in connection with them will be turned over to the treasury of the city or county where they were seized. Santa Anita is in the City of Arcadia.

Daruty stated on both Saturday and Sunday that they intend to take the matter to court.

“We will be seeking a court confirmation that our view of applicable law is correct,” he told the TDN Sunday. “Based on the very limited, almost non-existent investigation they did into how those Tote terminals actually work, I think our legal position is much better than theirs. And frankly, I'm not sure they even understand that they took Tote terminals.”

These remarks mirror in tone what Daruty had stated in a short statement issued Saturday evening. In it, he maintained that the terminals operated under longstanding pari-mutuel wagering laws using a wager that regulators had already approved, and after the AG's office had apparently received fore-warning about the machines nearly a year ago before they were made operational.

“Attorney General Bonta received our comprehensive legal analysis nearly a year ago. His office had ample time to raise concerns. They did not. We proceeded on solid legal ground, and since the state is choosing to challenge that now, we're fully prepared to defend ourselves. We're confident the law is clear,” Daruty wrote.

The very public operation saw state DOJ personnel wheel the machines out the back of the Santa Anita grandstand on gurneys during racing. Given the apparent abruptness of the law enforcement operation, little information was initially shared publicly about who and what precipitated the action.

Reached briefly on Sunday morning, Daruty explained that the state Attorney General's office, under Rob Bonta, gave the order.

“There was no court order. There was no court action. There was no seizure warrant. This was an action of the Department of Justice under the direction of the Attorney General's office,” said Daruty on Sunday.

Courtesy California AG Office

There had been 26 machines in total operating in the grandstand pavilion since Thursday. They offered $1 bets and required gamblers to select the first three finishers of three random six-horse previously-run races.

The ultimate purpose of the machines was to provide a much-needed additional source of income for Santa Anita's purses, which have struggled to compete with other states whose purse accounts are juiced by supplemental revenue sources like HHR machines.

The question had been whether the machines were legal or not without explicit approval from Tribal entities in the state who hold a lock on non-pari-mutuel wagering in California.

Indeed, a politically powerful Tribal entity told the LA Times Thursday that they would have a “full throated” response to machines going in at Santa Anita, arguing that they violate the tribal compact on gambling.

On Thursday when they were launched, Daruty explained to the TDN that he believed the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) had already provided cover for the machines when they approved the “Three-by-Three” wager in 2024.

“As for the CHRB, they have already approved Santa Anita Park to conduct wagering on out-of-state simulcast signals and have already approved the Three-by-Three wager, which approvals cover the Racing on Demand activity,” he said on Thursday.

When asked on Sunday if there were other political forces that had precipitated Saturday's action by the state AG's office, Daruty pointed to the sway that Tribal entities wield.

“What exactly triggered the actions yesterday? I don't know. However, I will say that anybody who keeps an eye on California politics knows how much money the Tribes spend and knows how, let's say, influential they can be to politicians,” he said.

Daruty was tight-lipped Sunday morning about what the next steps would be, other than to say they would take the matter to court and that he still believed theirs was a strong case, describing the machines as “Tote” terminals.

The state AG's office is similarly tight-lipped about what legal triggers precipitated Saturday's action.

An AG spokesperson wrote only the following in Monday's email that contained the notice: “We have seized the machines at the Santa Anita racetrack pursuant to California Penal Code 335a.”

Other than to indicate “prohibited lotteries or gambling,” the language of that statute deals primarily with a set of actions once the machines have been seized.

While Tribal entities are a political behemoth in the state, they suffered a rare reversal of fortunes in the courts last year in their attempt to sue and ultimately shut down gambling halls called card rooms in the state.

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