This section directs how certain purse-supplement monies must be distributed, including shares for tracks and breeders associations, and allows each breeders association to use up to $200,000 per year for Louisiana Champions Day purses.
§217. Purse supplements; designation and distribution A. Repealed by Acts 1988, No. 794, §2. B. The balance of the total monies derived from commissions and designated for purse supplements pursuant to R.S. 4:216 shall be distributed as follows: (1) To the host track, forty-five and forty-five hundredths percent and to the track owned by the licensee(s), forty-five and forty-five hundredths percent. (2)(a) To the Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association or the Louisiana Quarterhorse Breeders Association. Nine and ten hundredths percent shall be used by these associations to supplement purses for allowance, handicap, and stake races for accredited Louisiana bred horses and to pay breeder awards to breeders of accredited Louisiana bred horses finishing first, second, or third in open races at any track in Louisiana. (b) Such monies shall be paid to the breed organization representing the breed which ran in the race generating the monies. (c) Such monies shall be paid quarterly to the appropriate breed organization. (d) Where monies generated by this Paragraph are available, breeder awards shall be equal, proportional to the money won, to those paid in restricted races. (e) Up to two hundred thousand dollars per year from the monies available under this Paragraph may be used by each breeders association to supplement purses on Louisiana Champions Day. Such supplements are to be over and above purses and purse supplements as provided elsewhere in this Chapter. C. All monies generated under this Section shall be distributed within one year from the date generated. Monies generated at a racing facility not operating when the monies are generated shall be used at the next race meeting of the same breed held at that racing facility. D.(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the monies designated for purses under the provisions of R.S. 4:216(C) from wagers placed at offtrack wagering facilities on special accredited Louisiana bred maiden races as defined in R.S. 4:184 shall be accounted for separately and shall be distributed as follows: (a) Fifteen and ten hundredths percent shall be distributed to the Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association for breeder awards in accordance with a distribution formula established by the executive committee of that organization. (b) Forty-one and forty-five hundredths percent shall be distributed to the host track for purse supplements for the special accredited Louisiana maiden thoroughbred races held at that track. (c) Forty-one and forty-five hundredths percent shall be distributed to the tracks owned by the licensee(s) of the offtrack wagering facility where the wagers are made for purse supplements for the special accredited Louisiana bred maiden thoroughbred races held at their respective tracks. (d) Two percent shall be distributed to the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association for the use and benefit of such persons and other horsemen as medical and hospital benefits with an amount not to exceed thirty percent thereof to be used for administrative expenses and other costs necessary to provide the benefits. (2)(a) When the amounts designated for purse supplements under this Subsection are in excess of those required to make purses for the special accredited Louisiana-bred maiden thoroughbred races run at a facility equal to purses for other maiden races of equivalent conditions, such excess funds may be used as purse supplements for other Louisiana bred races during the current race meeting at that facility. (b) However, from all sponsor-added supplements added to special accredited Louisiana-bred maiden thoroughbred races, the breeder's and stallion's award portion shall be first deducted from that supplement and the balance shall constitute the total supplement to that purse. (3) Monies designated for purse supplements in accordance with this Subsection that are not used during the current race meeting shall be placed in an interest-bearing account and shall remain in that account until the next licensed race meeting held at the appropriate facility. At such time, the funds in that account and the interest earned thereon shall then be used for purse supplements as provided herein. All interest earned on purses and purse supplements in accordance with this Section shall be for only Louisiana bred races. E. Notwithstanding, and in lieu of, any other provision of law, the monies designated for purses under the provisions of R.S. 4:216(E) from wagers placed at offtrack wagering facilities on historical horse races shall be distributed in the same manner as set forth in R.S. 27:438(B) as in effect at the time of any such distribution, and if R.S. 27:438(B)(2)(a) becomes effective, any such quarter horse purse supplements shall not be included in the calculation of the applicable maximum of one million dollars per state fiscal year and the settlement amount as set forth therein. Acts 1987, No. 203, §1, eff. June 30, 1987; Acts 1988, No. 188, §1, eff. July 1, 1988; Acts 1988, No. 794, §2; Acts 1990, No. 1013, §1, eff. July 26, 1990; Acts 1992, No. 135, §1, eff. June 5, 1992; Acts 1997, No. 335, §1; Acts 1999, No. 1053, §1; Acts 2001, No. 566, §1; Acts 2021, No. 437, §1, eff. June 21, 2021; Acts 2022, No. 692, §1; Acts 2024, No. 642, §1.