FTC Approves Change to Per-Start Assessment for HISA

The Federal Trade Commission approved Dec. 23 a proposed modification of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's method to assess payments it requires from racing states to support its racetrack safety and anti-doping and medication control programs.

On a vote of 5-0, the FTC approved changing the methodology from one that gave equal weight to projected number of starts and the projected average purse for the coming year to an assessment based solely on the percentage of annual racing starts. The new per-starts assessment is effective Jan. 1, 2026.

For 2024, HISA collected more than $77.5 million from racing states.

The rule change followed HISA's analysis following two years of its Racetrack Safety Program and after a year of operating the Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program. In the FTC order authorizing the rule change, HISA noted its expenses "after the initial implementation period have turned out to be closely correlated to starts and not to purse amounts or the grade of a race."

HISA also noted that the previous assessment based on a combination of starts and purses has been the subject of litigation.

Both Churchill Downs and the New York Racing Association have challenged their assessments, arguing in a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky that they had for two years been paying assessments based on number of starts. The starts and purses methodology used for the 2025 assessment, both organizations claim, is illegal and the steps taken to enforce payment also are not authorized by law.

HISA has defended the starts/purses methodology, stating it was created after "thorough consideration" and "input from racing participants," and said it intends to "aggressively defend itself."

Despite the new rule change to starts only, the 2025 assessment and budget were built around the starts/purses methodology.

While the per-starts method is actually preferred by Churchill Downs and NYRA, many smaller racetracks objected to what they saw as a "shifting of the burden from larger purse-value racetracks, which typically have fewer days of racing per year, to those racetracks that offer longer racing seasons with lower purses."

"The fee structure proposed will lead directly to the closure of the smaller tracks thus making the sport even more irrelevant than it currently is," said trainer Karl Broberg in a comment submitted to the FTC in October regarding the rule change. "If HISA is to work, the previous fee structure at least gives smaller tracks an opportunity to survive."

While the FTC order notes no comments supporting the per-starts rule change, it noted that during a comment period of the purses/starts method, people in the industry were concerned that tracks would try to cut their costs by running more races for lower purses and pose "a danger to horses and undermining the (Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act's) goals."

The FTC concluded the new per-starts methodology is consistent with the law creating HISA and acknowledged that tracks and states without high-stakes races may see a significant increase in fees.

"We expect the Authority will continue to review its assessment methodology on a regular basis, and if the potential adverse consequences described in the comments come to bear, we trust that the Authority will consider whether further modification to the interstate methodology is warranted," the FTC order stated.