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Show Horse breeders want pari-mutual vote Utah's horse breeders have filed an initiative petition to give each county the right to decide by majority whether pah-mutuel wagering will be allowed at horse races in their county. The petition was filed with Lt. Gov. Val Oveson on Friday, March 27. A horse drawn chariot delivered it to the steps of the State Capitol, where supporters were waiting to file it. The purpose of the initiative is to give each county the right to vote on the issue and to support sup-port public education, further economic development, de-velopment, and reduce taxes through pari-mutuel wagering. 'Citizens To Put Utah First, the group supporting suppor-ting the petition, plans to have signature packets ready to circulate as soon as the lieutenant governor gov-ernor returns the required circulation sheets to tht sponsors. Supporters in each county are ready to-collect the 65,000 signatures required to place the initiative on the ballot. 4 If the voters approve it in November, the initiative in-itiative will give the people of each county the right to approve or reject pari-mutuel wagering at horse races in their county by a simple majority vote. It will abolish the "Utah Horse Commission" Commis-sion" created by the 1992 Utah Legislature and return the $100,000 allocated to that commission to the Utah General Fund. In its place, the initiative creates a new Utah Horse Racing Commission that will not cost the taxpayers a penny. The new commission will promote and regulate horse racing throughout the state and pari-mutuel wagering in those counties that approve it. At least three of the five members of the new commission must be appointed from nominees submitted to the Governor by the County Commissions Com-missions of those counties that approve pari-mutuel pari-mutuel wagering. At least one member must be appointed from each of Utah's three Congressional Congres-sional Districts. The funds collected in pari-mutuel wagering will be used to support public education, promote economic development, and reduce taxes. Three percent of each pari-mutuel pool will go to the Utah Education Fund, and another three percent will be paid to the county where pari-mutuel wagering was conducted to promote economic development and reduce taxes in that county. Eighty percent will be paid to those holding winning tickets in the pool, thereby returning the money to the local economy. Six percent will go to horsemen's purses, and another six percent to the licensee to cover the cost of operating the horse track and pari-mutuel system. One percent of each pool will be paid to the Utah Horse Racing Commission to cover its costs. Another one percent will be used to establish estab-lish a Utah Bred Incentive Fund to encourage horse breeding within the state through special races and purses for Utah bred horses. |