Through the Cracks
Jay Hovdey on how exchange wagering came to pass in California:
… the exchange betting portion was tucked into the bill in mid-August, allowing precious little time for public debate on the merits.
Not so, says the California Horse Racing Board’s executive secretary, Kirk Breed, who points out that exchange betting was discussed at every meeting of the racing board’s Legislative Committee since last March …
For the most part, those committee meetings were undercovered by media and therefore not part of the mainstream conversation in California racing circles. The concept of legalizing betting exchanges was broached only a couple of times at the regular monthly meetings of the state racing board held this year, and then never as an agenda item for formal discussion.
And now it is law. Is this a great country or what?
An example of what gets lost without a robust, independent press, whether professional or amateur, beat reporters or obsessive bloggers …
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