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End to Betting on Gerbil Races

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – As reported by the Juneau Empire: "For decades, people attending the Alaska State Fair have gambled on `rat' races, a game of chance in which bettors try to guess which hole a gerbil will run down as he slowly spins on a wheel.

"But a new legal opinion under review in the attorney general's office could put an end to gambling on animals.

"…[The state assistant attorney general, Dan Branch's] opinion said all forms of gambling are illegal in Alaska, unless the Legislature makes an exception.

"…The opinion has left the Palmer Elks Lodge, which operates the popular rat race game at the fair, scrambling to prove it has been rat racing since before statehood.

"…`It originally started out with rats, but then the rats would bite,' said Rollie Vasanoja, lodge secretary for the Palmer Elks. `So they went to gerbils.'

" The gerbil is placed on a wheel that somebody `turns real slow,' Vasanoja said. The wheel is full of colored holes, and people place bets on what color hole the animal will choose to duck into to exit the wheel…"

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