2013 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 4 - Amusements and Sports
RS 4:158 - License or permit to conduct race meetings, one-year and ten-year licenses

§158. License or permit to conduct race meetings, one-year and ten-year licenses

A. On or before the fifteenth of April of each year and on or before the fifteenth of August of each year any person possessing the qualifications prescribed in this Part may apply to the commission for a license to conduct race meetings. On or before the first of May and the first of September of each year, after receipt of the applications the commission shall convene to consider the refusal or granting of the permits or licenses applied for. An application filed prior to any one of the two deadlines shall request dates for racing to commence not sooner than four months from said deadlines. The permits or licenses granted shall set forth the name of the licensee, the location of the race track, the duration of the race meeting, and the kind of racing desired to be conducted, and shall recite the receipt by the commission of the license fee provided for in this Part. The license is not transferable nor does it apply to any place, track, or enclosure except the one specified in the license. Should the commission, after due proceedings had in conformity with this Part, suspend or revoke an association's license or terminate the racing privileges granted to an association, said association may within ten days of the notification of the commission's decision take a suspensive appeal to the district court having jurisdiction over the association's track. Such appeals shall be filed in the district court in the same manner as original suits are instituted therein. The appeals should be tried de novo. Either party may amend and supplement his pleadings and additional witnesses may be called and heard.

Within ten calendar days of the signing of the judgment by the district court in any such appeal case, the commission or the applicant for a license or licensee, as the case may be, may suspensively appeal the judgment to the appellate court of proper jurisdiction. These appeals shall be perfected in the manner provided for in civil cases and shall be suspensive or devolutive in the discretion of the court.

All proceedings in the district and appellate courts arising under this Part are civil in nature and shall be heard summarily by the court, without a jury, shall take precedence over other civil cases, and shall be tried in chambers or in open court, and in or out of term.

B. The provisions of this Part to the contrary, notwithstanding, the commission may contract with any licensee for a permit to operate a track for a period of ten years. Such permit shall conform to all the requirements as set out in Subsection (A) of this section; however, any licensee applying for a ten-year license under this section shall also agree in writing to expend the sum of no less than $10,000.00 per year or $100,000.00 during said ten-year period for the purpose of repairs and improvements to the track and its facilities, said sum to be expended during said ten-year period.

The commission may approve an application for racing dates for a period not exceeding three racing years, when a contract has been entered into in accordance with this section.

Acts 1968, No. 554, §1.