Santa Anita Park Takes Its 3×3 Machine Case To Court
The Los Angeles Turf Club filed a 52-page writ of mandate against the California Department of Justice on Tuesday
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Santa Anita Park is taking its Racing on Demand fight to court.
The track filed a 52-page writ of mandate against the California Department of Justice on Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, according to a Los Angeles Times report. The suit seeks the return of 26 betting machines (and the cash inside them) that state agents seized on Saturday, just two days after the machines went live.
The clock is ticking: The state says it will destroy the machines in 30 days unless a court steps in.
The petitioner, listed as the Los Angeles Turf Club, argues that the 3X3 wager, which consists of picking the top three finishers in three different races, should be legal for past races, just as it is for live ones. The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) approved the wager type back in April 2024. What’s in dispute is whether that approval extended to historical races or only live ones. The regulation didn’t spell it out, according to the report.
The track’s main argument: State regulators had plenty of time to object and never did.
“Neither the Attorney General’s office, nor the CHRB, ever disputed [the track’s] written legal analysis or stated that the [track] did not have the legal right to offer the 3X3 wager on concluded races,” the suit states, according to the Times.
Many meetings, then warrantless seizure
According to the complaint, track officials met with CHRB personnel multiple times throughout 2024 and 2025 to discuss the machines. As recently as Nov. 25, 2025, representatives from Santa Anita, Del Mar, and the Thoroughbred Owners of California sat down with CHRB’s executive director, deputy director, and legal counsel. On Dec. 22, 2025, track officials spoke with CHRB Executive Director Scott Chaney about launching the machines “within the next several weeks.”
Yet when the machines went live last Thursday, the CHRB issued a statement saying: “Like everyone else, we had heard rumors, but the CHRB was unaware of this actual move.”
That same day, Santa Anita’s Scott Daruty sent Chaney a letter referencing “several recent informational meetings and calls we hosted with you, certain members of your staff, and certain CHRB commissioners.”
The suit says 21 DOJ personnel and two Arcadia police officers arrived at the track with a U-Haul. The state justified skipping a warrant by calling Santa Anita an “open business with ongoing criminal activity.”
The track received a receipt for the 26 machines. Its request for an itemized receipt for the confiscated cash was denied.
California’s tribal gaming interests, which hold jurisdiction over most non-pari-mutuel wagering in the state, remain the machines’ loudest opponents, according to the report, arguing they’re slot machines in everything but name. The tribes are also major contributors to California politicians and their PACs.
