Mid-Atlantic 2024 HISA tab up 16% versus 2023
Frank Vespe- November 9, 2023
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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