UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

BEFORE THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

COMMISSIONERS: Lina M. Khan, Chair 

Rebecca Kelly Slaughter 

Alvaro M. Bedoya 

ORDER APPROVING THE ENFORCEMENT RULE MODIFICATION PROPOSED BY 

THE HORSERACING INTEGRITY AND SAFETY AUTHORITY 

September 26, 2023 

I. Decision of the Commission: HISA's Proposed Modification to Enforcement 

Rule Is Approved 

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act of 2020, 15 U.S.C. §§ 3051-3060, recognizes a 

self-regulatory nonprofit organization, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority ("HISA" 

or "the Authority"), which is charged with developing proposed rules on a variety of subjects 

relating to horseracing. See id. § 3053(a). Those proposed rules and subsequent proposed rule 

modifications take effect only if approved by the Federal Trade Commission ("Commission"). 

See id. § 3053(b)(2). 

On March 25, 2022, the Commission approved an Enforcement Rule proposed by the 

Authority relating to, among other things, the Authority's investigatory powers and its ability to 

seize "any medication, drug, substance, paraphernalia, object, or device in violation or suspected 

violation of' the HISA Act and regulations of the Authority.1 In approving the Authority's 

proposed Rule 8400(a)(2), the Commission directed the Authority "to submit to the Commission 

a supplemental proposed rule modification ... in which the Authority further defines the 

1 See Order Approving Enforcement Rule Proposed by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, 

https://perma.cc/H9SJ-F9WA (Mar. 25, 2022) ("Order Approving Enforcement Rule"); see also Notice ofHISA 

Proposed Rule, 87 Fed. Reg. 4023 (Jan. 26, 2022). 

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meaning of 'object' and 'device' within proposed Rule 8400(a)(2)'s list of items eligible for 

seizure" and that "provides a process for the return of seized property if no violation is found. "2 

The Commission instructed the Authority to make clear that any "object" or "device" seized 

must be "of a similar nature to 'medication, drug, substance, and paraphernalia."'3 

The Authority subsequently submitted to the Commission further proposed modifications 

to its Enforcement Rule, including a proposed modification to Rule 8400(a)(2) that retained the 

terms "object" and "device" but qualified those terms as limited to items "reasonably believed to 

have been used in furtherance of the violation or suspected violation." On September 23, 2022, 

the Commission issued an order approving certain ofthe proposed modifications; with regard to 

Rule 8400(a)(2), the Commission issued a "Further Directive" concerning the Authority's 

seizure power.4 The Commission noted its continuing directive to the Authority to further define 

"the meaning of 'object' and 'device' within ... Rule 8400(a)(2)" to clarify that those terms are 

"of a similar nature to 'medication, drug, substance, and paraphernalia"' and "do not include 

telephones, computers, or other repositories of electronic data." The Commission concluded by 

directing the Authority not to rely "on the words 'object' or 'device' in Rule 8400(a)(2) to 

effectuate a seizure" and to submit to the Commission a proposed rule modification that would, 

inter alia, "further define the type of item subject to a seizure to include items such as 

'intravenous tubing, oral dosing syringes, needles, nasal gastric tubes, various types of container 

bags, and vials' and other items such as illegal whips and shock devices."5 

2 See Order Approving Enforcement Rule at 34-35. 3 Id at 35-36. 

4 Order Approving the Enforcement Rule Modification Proposed by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc gov/pdf/Order%20re%20HISA%20Enforcement%20Rule%20Modification.pdf 

(Sept. 23, 2022) ("Enforcement Modification Order"). 

5 Id. at 14-16. 

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The Authority has now proposed a further modification of Rule 8400(a)(2) to bring the 

rule into conformity with the directives set forth in the Commission's Enforcement Modification 

Order. In response to the Commission's direction to replace the words "object" and "device" in 

that rule with language denoting that the seized property should be ofthe nature of 

"medication[s], drug[s], substance[s], and paraphernalia," the revised Rule 8400(a)(2) that the 

Authority has proposed would read as follows: 

(a) The Commission, the Authority or their designees: 

(1) * * * 

(2) May seize: 

(i) any medication, drug, substance or injectable in violation or 

suspected violation of any provision of 15 U.S.C. Chapter 

57A or the regulations ofthe Authority; and 

(ii) intravenous tubing, syringes, needles, nasogastric tubes, 

container bags, vials, electrical devices, riding crops not in 

compliance with Rule 2281, and similar items that may be 

evidence of a violation or suspected violation of 15 U.S.C. 

Chapter 57A or the regulations ofthe Authority.6 

On July 28, 2023, the Commission published the Authority's proposed modification to Rule 

8400(a)(2) in the Federal Register and invited public comment.7 

II. Discussion of Public Comments 

The proposed modification of Rule 8400(a)(2) garnered only two public comments, 

neither ofwhich addressed the proposed rule modification or otherwise furnishes a basis for 

disapproving the Authority's proposal. One commenter took issue with what he viewed as 

the position ofthe Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit ("HIWU") that equine dietary 

supplements that contain no banned substances can nevertheless be prohibited "in the event 

that HIWU were to create an opinion that the manufacturer ofthe dietary supplement has 

6 See FTC, Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority Enforcement Rule Modification, 88 Fed. Reg. 48849 (July 28, 

2023). 

7 Id; see 15 U.S.C. § 3053(b). 

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overstated the health benefits on the label." In this commenter's view, such a rule "needs to 

be modified to exclu[de] dietary supplements that do not list a banned substance on the 

label."8 

The other commenter asserted that the Commission should reject the proposed rule 

modification "until effective steps to reduce or eliminate deaths ofrace horses." According 

to this commenter, "[u]se of any kind ofperformance enhancing drug only increases the 

risks of death. The FTC should investigate the 47 deaths ofrace horses and ask the 

Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority for a report oftheir own investigation, and a ban 

on further horse racing until the causes ofthese multiple deaths has been determined."9 

Given that neither public comment questioned or directly addressed the proposed 

modification to Rule 8400(a)(2), neither comment furnishes grounds to disapprove the 

proposed modification. While the term "electrical devices" is not further defined in the 

proposed modification, the Commission understands that the Authority interprets that term 

as limited to the way it is generally understood within the horseracing world - that is, 

devices that may be utilized in some way with respect to horses. With that one clarification, 

the Commission therefore finds that the proposed modification to Enforcement Rule 

8400(a)(2) is consistent with the Act and with the Commission's procedural rules, see 15 

U.S.C. § 3053(c)(2), and that it carries out the directives in the Commission's previous 

orders pertaining to the Enforcement Rule. Accordingly, by this Order, the Commission 

approves the proposed rule modification. 

III. Conclusion 

8 Cmt. ofJim Roberts, FTC-2023-0045-0003. 9 Cmt. ofKermit Kubitz, FTC-2023-0045-0004. 

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For the foregoing reasons, the Authority's proposed modification to Rule 8400(a)(2) 

is APPROVED. 

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