Offtrack wagering facilities; ownership

A. Only a primary licensee of a pari-mutuel facility may own and operate an offtrack wagering facility in a parish whose parish seat is located less than fifty-five miles from such facility. B. Offtrack wagering facilities to be located in parishes whose parish seat is less than fifty-five miles from more than one pari-mutuel facility must be jointly owned by those facilities. Such jointly owned facilities shall be subject to the following provisions: (1) Percentage of ownership shall be inversely proportional to the distance from the pari-mutuel facility to the parish seat of the parish in which the proposed facility is to be located. (2) A copy of a written agreement between all eligible applicants for licensure of offtrack wagering facilities in a parish must be submitted to the commission with the application for licensure. (3) If an eligible applicant does not wish to participate in the establishment of offtrack wagering facilities with other eligible applicants, he shall so state in writing within thirty days of receipt of notification, a copy of which shall be included with the application for licensure submitted by any other eligible applicants. C. Ownership of offtrack wagering facilities in parishes whose parish seat is fifty-five miles or more from any pari-mutuel facility shall be determined by the following procedure: (1) Any applicant eligible for licensure of an offtrack wagering facility desiring to establish such a facility in a parish covered by this Subsection shall provide written notification of this intent to the commission. (2) The commission shall notify all other eligible applicants under the provisions of this Part of this intent. (3) All eligible applicants must respond within thirty days of receipt of this notice of intent if they wish to participate in the joint ownership of an offtrack wagering facility in that parish. Ownership shall be distributed equally among eligible applicants who choose to participate, unless agreed to and contracted otherwise by such eligible applicants. Applicants who fail to respond within thirty days will not be eligible to participate in any offtrack wagering facility in the parish. (4) All eligible applicants indicating their wish to participate in joint ownership of an offtrack wagering facility must submit a joint application for licensure pursuant to the provisions of R.S. 4:214. D. The provisions of this Section shall not apply to an offtrack wagering facility located in the sports book lounge of a host entity.