The ruling matches a preliminary injunction issued against MGCB by the same court last February and upheld by the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in December.
READ: Federal Court of Appeal sides with TwinSpires in ADW case
“This case concerns Michigan’s ability to regulate horse racing betting. (TwinSpires) challenges a licensing requirement in the Michigan Horse Racing Law …,” Judge Hala Y. Jarbou wrote in the summary judgment. “Twinspires claims the licensing requirement is unenforceable because it is preempted by the federal Interstate Horseracing Act.”
According to Jarbou, Michigan law requires what she described as a “betting facilitator” to obtain a license from the state in which the bets are placed. However, in Jarbou’s opinion, the Interstate Horseracing Act only requires approval from “the host racing association (which organizes the horse race), the host racing commission (the regulator in the horse racing state), and the offtrack racing commission (the regulator in the state where the wager is accepted).”
Acknowledging that Michigan’s licensing requirement conflicts with Congress’s chosen methods of achieving the IHA’s objectives and “intends the federal plan by granting an additional authorization to accept wagers,” Jarbou ruled that TwinSpires is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
The ruling effectively reverses MGCB’s suspension of TwinSpires’ Michigan license because it did not comply with a provision of the Michigan Horse Racing Law that required the company to partner with a track in the state.
In turn, she issued a permanent injunction against the enforcement of Michigan law against TwinSpires.
“Regarding Twinspires’ request for a permanent injunction, the factors the Court must consider substantially overlap with those the Sixth Circuit addressed,” Jarbou wrote. ‘Twinspires’ is entitled to a permanent ban [because] it may find that it has suffered a violation of the Constitution and that it will continue to suffer irreparable harm for which the law does not provide an adequate remedy.”
“It is ordered that Henry L. Williams, Executive Director of the Michigan Gambling Control Board, and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, will not enforce the licensing requirement of the Michigan Horse Racing Law,” Jarbou wrote.
The MGCB has the right to appeal the summary judgment, but doing so would send the case back to the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in favor of TwinSpires regarding the preliminary injunction Jarbou granted.
Jarbou is chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.
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