(230 ILCS 5/54.75)

Sec. 54.75. Horse Racing Equity Trust Fund.

(a) There is created a Fund to be known as the Horse Racing Equity Trust Fund, which is a non-appropriated trust fund held separate and apart from State moneys. The Fund shall consist of moneys paid into it by owners licensees under the Illinois Gambling Act for the purposes described in this Section. The Fund shall be administered by the Board. Moneys in the Fund shall be distributed as directed and certified by the Board in accordance with the provisions of subsection (b).

(b) The moneys deposited into the Fund, plus any accrued interest on those moneys, shall be distributed within 10 days after those moneys are deposited into the Fund as follows:

(1) Sixty percent of all moneys distributed under this subsection shall be distributed to organization licensees to be distributed at their race meetings as purses. Fifty-seven percent of the amount distributed under this paragraph (1) shall be distributed for thoroughbred race meetings and 43% shall be distributed for standardbred race meetings. Within each breed, moneys shall be allocated to each organization licensee's purse fund in accordance with the ratio between the purses generated for that breed by that licensee during the prior calendar year and the total purses generated throughout the State for that breed during the prior calendar year by licensees in the current calendar year.

(2) The remaining 40% of the moneys distributed under this subsection (b) shall be distributed as follows:

(A) 11% shall be distributed to any person (or its successors or assigns) who had operating control of a racetrack that conducted live racing in 2002 at a racetrack in a county with at least 230,000 inhabitants that borders the Mississippi River and is a licensee in the current year; and

(B) the remaining 89% shall be distributed pro rata according to the aggregate proportion of total handle from wagering on live races conducted in Illinois (irrespective of where the wagers are placed) for calendar years 2004 and 2005 to any person (or its successors or assigns) who (i) had majority operating control of a racing facility at which live racing was conducted in calendar year 2002, (ii) is a licensee in the current year, and (iii) is not eligible to receive moneys under subparagraph (A) of this paragraph (2).

The moneys received by an organization licensee under this paragraph (2) shall be used by each organization licensee to improve, maintain, market, and otherwise operate its racing facilities to conduct live racing, which shall include backstretch services and capital improvements related to live racing and the backstretch. Any organization licensees sharing common ownership may pool the moneys received and spent at all racing facilities commonly owned in order to meet these requirements.

If any person identified in this paragraph (2) becomes ineligible to receive moneys from the Fund, such amount shall be redistributed among the remaining persons in proportion to their percentages otherwise calculated.

(c) The Board shall monitor organization licensees to ensure that moneys paid to organization licensees under this Section are distributed by the organization licensees as provided in subsection (b).

(Source: P.A. 101-31, eff. 6-28-19.)