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Arizona Casinos and Tracks In New Fight

"Racetracks are trying to prevent the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation from signing a contract with a Nevada signal company that pays off-track betting customers richer rewards than any Arizona track.

"At stake for the tracks are millions of dollars in revenue and the potential disintegration of a tenuous business relationship with the casinos that has persevered even in the midst of a bitter legal battle in federal court.

"The Yavapai Nation has been trying for almost a year to amend an appendix of its state compact that requires an Arizona racetrack to get any off-track betting business taking place at the casino.

"…The Yavapai Nation also contends that it only wants the right to get full use out of its $1.3 million off-track-betting facility.

"…In a brief to be filed today, the state Attorney General's Office will argue that the Yavapai Nation is bound by the agreement it signed to carry signals from Arizona tracks. But whether the compacts can now be changed `is open to question,' attorney general's spokeswoman Pati Urias said.

"…More than $7 million was wagered on racing at Indian casinos over the past two fiscal years, according to Wade Turner, the executive director of the Arizona Department of Racing.

"…The company that the Fort McDowell casino wants to use, Las Vegas Dissemination, is Nevada's only licensed systems operator for pari-mutuel wagering, and as such, has an exclusive deal to provide racing broadcasts to 70 Nevada casinos from approximately 50 racetracks across the country…"

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