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Illinois House Passes Bill to Up Mutuel Tax Measure Now Goes to Senate; Pea body Asks It Be Defeated SPRINGFIELD, HI., June 16.— The I11U nois House yesterday passed House Bill 1105, which increases the tax on pari-mutuel wagering at the states running tracks .1 per cent, without a dissenting vote, 105 to 0. The revenue that would accrue from the additional tax, which raises the levy at Chicagoland tracks to 14 per cent; would be used to help finance a Chicago lake front fair as well as several downstate fairs. Sponsors of the measure in the House, Paul Powell, Paul Randolph, Joseph De La Cour, Walter McAvoy and Clyde Lee, estimated that ,400,000 will be raised additionally each year by the increased levy. An identical bill was introduced in the Senate by Minority Leader William J. Connors D. Chicago and Sen. Walker Butler R. Chicago , but action in the Senate was postponed pending arrival of the House Bill. ; Meanwhile, Stuyvesant Peabody, Jr., chairman of the Illinois Racing Board, went on record opposing this measure as well as House Bill 296 which provides that 50 per cent of the stable space at Illinois tracks must be allotted to Illinois owners, with eviction on five days notice of out-of-state horses if Illinois owners cannot be furnished with stalls. In voicing his protest Peabody said, both bills "discriminate against the vast race-going public of Illinois who last year provided an attendance of 2,190,378, wagering 25,730,720 resulting in a revenue of ,- 981,738.67 for the State of Illinois." JLevelling a particular blast at the bill to increase the mutuel tax, Peabody said that "this type of tax bill tend -to stimulate illegal bookmaking as it will give the illegal operators a margin of over 15 per cent considering the breakage to work on. It is difficult to estimate whether this additional tax will result in decreased betting as the public becomes aware of it, but any tax of this type will tend to reduce the : racegoers enthusiasm and eventually the law of diminishing returns will become effective." In urging legislators to defeat the bill on stabling restrictions, Peabody stated that if passed, it would result in a lower quality of horses racing at Illinois tracks, "changing the character of our racing which now-features at our larger tracks some of the best thoroughbreds in the land to that of a county fair where only local horses run against each other, as obviously the finer stables will not ship to Illinois if they will be discriminated against here." Peabody also pointed out the danger of such legislation, saying that It "will invite other states to pass retaliatory legislation against our Blinois owners," particularly so during the months when Illinois tracks dont operate.
