Karnataka government files appeal against HC order permitting racing to resume at BTC

Bangalore Turf Club's weekend racing activities in jeopardy as State government appeals against resuming racing, causing uncertainty.

The weekend racing activities announced by the Bangalore Turf Club (BTC) now hang in the balance. On Thursday (June 20), the State government filed an appeal against the single-judge bench order permitting racing activities to resume at the BTC. The appeal, filed by the State government, is listed for hearing before a Division Bench headed by the Chief Justice on Friday.

“The racing activities will now depend on the outcome of the hearing in the Division Bench. We received the notice on Thursday,” said a BTC source.

While the earlier High Court order allowing the racing session to commence after missing the summer schedule for over a month now had brought relief to the stakeholders in the racing fraternity, Thursday’s development brings back uncertainty. The government refused to renew the betting licence of BTC over allegations of illegal betting by the BTC-licensed bookmakers, from whom about ₹3.4 crore had been seized during a raid by the CCB in January 2024.

BTC sources said the earlier decision brought relief to over 600 horse owners, over 70 trainers and assistant trainers and about 150 jockeys besides hundreds of stable workers and others associated with racing activities. On race days, an additional 600 people come to work, sources said. There are about 800 racehorses in the BTC stables.

Racing in Bengaluru has come to a standstill for the third time in recent years after the State Government refused to renew the licence to start the summer season on May 17. BTC sources said it is only in Bengaluru that the summer races are held among the seven turf clubs in the country. In the past, racing had been stopped over issues between the State government and the BTC in 2017 and 2023. The BTC and Mysore Race Course receive a licence from the State government to conduct on-course and off-course betting operations under the Mysore Race Courses Licensing Act, 1952.

According to The Karnataka Racehorse Owners Association, which has petitioned Chief Minister Siddaramaiah earlier, the only source of income to the horse owners was through the prize money totalling about ₹30 crores during the Bengaluru summer and winter meetings. After the allegations of illegal betting surfaced in January 2024, the BTC informed the court earlier that only the BTC-managed totalisators would be made available for placing the bets.