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Vino I.KK
IK-m«K-n»l SjHi'ial f rtl«*r Mark Twain once wrote. “It is the difference of opinion that makes horse races." In Virginia today, it is the difference of opinion that makes horse racing still a pipe dream. The proponents of racing with pari-mutual betting feel that it would greatly enhance the general prospects of the horse industry, and he a tremendous asset to the state's economy.
In Maryland, racing is the third largest industry. Many a Virginia horseman sends his mare to be bred, and later on. to foal in Maryland, to insure the foal’s eligibility for lucrative stakes races there.
Organized as "Virginians for Horse Racing”. Virginia's thoroughbred owners and breeders endorsed House Bill 204, an act to establish the Virginia Racing Commission. In 1978. despite their efforts, it was rejected.
The opposition, which stemmed largely from the highly-organized Virginia Council of Churches, was not to horse racing per se, but to the so-called horrors of gambling.
It was argued that should P-M betting become legalized, there would be increased organized crime, increased invasion of privacy through police activities such as wire-tapping, increased corruption* among public officials, and the encouragement of a get-richquick philosophy by Virginian’s, with the staje’s relying upon betting revenues to provide human services.
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