Mid-Atlantic tracks and horsemen are potentially on the hook for more than $17 million, prior to credits, of payments and in-kind services to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) in 2024. That’s up 16.8% from last year, when the organization required about $14.8 million from the region and includes, among other things, a full year of HISA being in charge of the sports anti-doping and medication control regime.

The federally created organization’s 2024 budget identifies nearly $81 million in expenses, with the lion’s share – more than $77 million – to be borne by the industry itself. The industry contributions come in the form of both payments and in-kind services, such as collecting lab samples for testing.

The assessments are calculated to take into account the number of starters at a given track and the size of the purses. As a result, track assessments vary fairly widely; in the Mid-Atlantic, for example, the HISA fee per start at Pimlico – with high purses over few days – hits $446, while that at Penn National is just $225. Nationally, Kentucky Downs has the highest per-start fee; with its extraordinarily high purses, it is responsible for nearly $1,100 per start.

The $17.3 million potential Mid-Atlantic tab amounts to nearly seven percent of the more than $250 million in purses paid in the region. Credits offered for laboratory participation and sample collection total nearly $5.3 million, most of that in Pennsylvania, where Parx and Penn National receive lab credits totaling $2.4 million. Pennsylvania and California are the only two states currently receiving lab credits, while all but a very few do receive credit for sample collection.

Some tracks do not currently participate in HISA. In the Mid-Atlantic, that includes Charles Town Races; West Virginia’s Mountaineer Park Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) joined a still-in-process lawsuit that earlier had seen the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rule HISA unconstitutional. After various machinations, that suit is back before that body now.

HISA 2024 PER-TRACK ASSESSMENTS

Track	HISA annual cost	Starts	Purses	HISA fee/start	Total credits
DEL	$1,469,051.00	4,593	$ 21,464,218	$319.85	$431,000.00
CT	$3,281,367.00	10,556	$ 36,495,880	$310.85	$0.00
LRL	$3,126,993.00	9,013	$ 51,663,625	$346.94	$696,000.00
PIM	$784,152.00	1,756	$ 12,955,623	$446.56	$146,000.00
TIM	$120,743.00	367	$ 1,994,887	$329.00	$34,000.00
CNL	$785,275.00	1,975	$ 13,990,713	$397.61	$150,000.00
PRX	$4,369,039.00	11,751	$ 60,508,858	$371.80	$2,198,000.00
PEN	$1,560,305.00	6,928	$ 21,609,388	$225.22	$1,639,000.00
MTH	$1,726,610.00	4,325	30,007,159	$399.22	$0.00
MED	$82,951.00	377	1,441,623	$220.03	$0.00

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