Virginia Administrative Code › Title 11 - GAMING › Agency 10 - VIRGINIA RACING COMMISSION › Chapter 20 - REGULATIONS PERTAINING TO HORSE RACING WITH PARI-MUTUEL WAGERING › Part III - Pari-Mutuel Wagering › Section 11VAC10-20-300 - Operations of the mutuel department

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
A. Generally. Each licensee shall strive to
				  keep the daily program of racing progressing as expeditiously as possible with
				  due regard for the health, safety, and comfort of the public and participants.
				  The licensee shall provide a sufficient number of mutuel windows and clerks so
				  that the public will be conveniently accommodated.
B. Post time. Post time for the first race on
				  each racing day shall be approved by the commission upon written request by the
				  licensee. Post time for subsequent races on the same program shall be fixed by
				  the mutuel manager. Where heat racing is utilized in harness racing, the time
				  between separate heats of a single race shall not be less than 40
				  minutes.
C. Termination of
				  wagering. The pari-mutuel machines shall be locked by a steward immediately
				  upon the start of the race through an electrical control in the stewards' stand
				  or before the start of a race through a method subject to the approval of the
				  commission.
D. Unwarranted delays.
				  If the start of the race is delayed two minutes or more beyond the official
				  post time, as shown on the display devices, for no good reason, the stewards
				  may, in their discretion, lock the ticket-issuing machines.
E. Commencement of wagering. Mutuel windows
				  shall open no less than 30 minutes before the first race. Cashing of tickets
				  shall begin, and selling shall resume, as soon as possible after the official
				  results of a race have been posted on the display devices.
F. Interruptions of wagering. If, for any
				  reason, including a malfunction of the totalizator, the ticket-issuing machines
				  are locked during the wagering on a race before the start, they shall remain
				  locked until after the race. Wagering shall cease on that race, and the payout
				  for that race shall be computed on the sums then wagered in each pool. However,
				  in the event the ticket-issuing machines are inadvertently locked through some
				  human error or mechanical problem, the ticket-issuing machines shall be
				  reopened only on the approval of the stewards, if the system balances when it
				  is again operational.
G. Conclusion
				  of wagering. No pari-mutuel tickets may be sold after the totalizator has been
				  locked, and the licensee shall not be responsible for pari-mutuel ticket sales
				  entered into but not completed by issuance of a ticket before the totalizator
				  has been locked.
H. Designated
				  windows. No pari-mutuel tickets shall be sold except by the licensee, and
				  pari-mutuel tickets shall only be sold at regular windows properly designated
				  by signs and freestanding self-service or ticket issuing devices.
I. Compliance with tax regulations. All
				  payouts on winning tickets shall be subject to withholding of federal and state
				  taxes when the amount of the payout exceeds the dollar threshold set by the
				  U.S. Internal Revenue Service. In those cases where the payouts require
				  identification and deduction of withholding taxes prior to cashing pari-mutuel
				  tickets to holders, the licensee shall comply with the applicable regulations
				  of the Internal Revenue Service and the statutes of the Commonwealth of
				  Virginia requiring identification and deduction of withholding taxes.
J. Emergency situations. If any emergency
				  arises in connection with the operation of the mutuel department at a racetrack
				  or satellite facility and the emergency is not covered by these regulations and
				  an immediate decision is necessary, the mutuel manager shall make the decision,
				  and make a prompt report of the facts to the stewards and the
				  commission.
K. Simulcast pools.
				  When wagers are commingled at a racetrack in another jurisdiction, the licensee
				  shall make payouts on winning wagers at the price posted at the racetrack where
				  the live race took place. However, once wagering has commenced and
				  circumstances prevent commingling some or all of the wagers to the racetrack in
				  the other jurisdiction, the licensee, through a previously established written
				  policy approved by the commission, shall:
1.
				  Pay prices posted by the racetrack in the other jurisdiction;
2. Establish its own pools using the wagers
				  that were not commingled with the racetrack in the other
				  jurisdiction;
3. Refund all wagers,
				  if an announcement is made not less than two minutes prior to the post time
				  that commingling cannot be accomplished and the circumstances involve only one
				  race; or
4. Refund all wagers, if
				  the wager involves more than one race and an announcement that commingling
				  cannot be accomplished by the start of the first race or not more than 10
				  minutes after the finish of the first race of the wager, unless there is a
				  payout due a wager as a result of the first race.