Certain offtrack wagering facilities cannot get a license if they are within one mile of listed sensitive properties, but several grandfathering and timing exceptions apply.
§228. Offtrack wagering facility locations; prohibited distances; prohibited structures A. No license shall be granted to any offtrack wagering facility located, at the time application is made for a license to operate offtrack wagering facilities, within one mile from any property on the National Register of Historic Places, any public playground, any residential property, or a building used primarily as a church, synagogue, public library, or school. The measurement of the distance shall be a straight line from the nearest point of the proposed offtrack wagering facility to the nearest point of the property on the National Register of Historic Places, the public playground, residential property, or a building used primarily as a church, synagogue, public library, or school. B. After an application is filed with the commission, the subsequent construction, erection, development, or movement of a property identified in Subsection A of this Section which causes the location of an offtrack wagering facility to be within the prohibited distance shall not be cause for denial of an initial or renewal application or revocation of a license. C. The prohibition in Subsection A of this Section shall not apply to the location of an offtrack wagering facility which applied for a license or was issued a license on or before July 1, 2021, or which applied for or was issued a valid building permit on or before July 1, 2021, and subsequently issued a license. Such location shall be eligible for an offtrack wagering facility license without reference to the prohibition in Subsection A of this Section unless after having obtained a license, an offtrack wagering facility has not been licensed at that location for thirty-six consecutive months and application for licensing is not made within that thirty-six-month period. D.(1) For locations on which an offtrack wagering facility has not been completely constructed, if application for licensing was made on or before July 1, 2021, the prohibited distance shall be one mile from any property on the National Register of Historic Places, any public playground, residential property, or a building used primarily as a church, synagogue, public library, or school. (2) The measurement of the distances shall be a straight line from the nearest point of the offtrack wagering facility to the nearest point of the property on the National Register of Historic Places, the public playground, residential property, or a building used primarily as a church, synagogue, public library, or school. E. If a parish or municipality does not have a zoning ordinance which designates certain property within its jurisdiction as residential property, the governing authority of the parish or municipality shall have the authority to designate to certain areas of its jurisdiction as residential districts for the purpose of this Section. F.(1) If application for licensing is made after July 1, 2021, the prohibition in Subsection A of this Section shall apply. (2) Notwithstanding the prohibitions in Subsections A and D of this Section and Paragraph (1) of this Subsection, if the owner of the equity of the primary licensee on July 1, 2021, sold the equity of the primary licensee to a new owner, and the transaction was approved by the commission prior to November 1, 2021, then the primary licensee shall have until August 1, 2022, to apply for licensing of offtrack wagering facility locations and the prohibitions in Subsections A and D of this Section and Paragraph (1) of this Subsection shall not apply to those applications. G. "Residential property" shall mean any property which is wholly or partly used for or intended to be used for living or sleeping by human occupants and which includes one or more rooms, including a bathroom and complete kitchen facilities. Residential property shall include a mobile home or manufactured housing, if it has been in its present location for at least sixty days. Residential property shall not include any hotel or motel. H. The provisions of this Section shall not apply to an offtrack wagering facility located in the sports book lounge of a host entity. Acts 2021, No. 437, §1, eff. June 21, 2021; Acts 2022, No. 92, §1, eff. May 24, 2022; Acts 2022, No. 530, §1, eff. June 16, 2022.