Santa Anita Park is suing the California Department of Justice over the removal of betting machines that were installed last week. The fight over whether Santa Anita Park can legally have Racing on Demand machines at its facility moved to its next step of litigation on Tuesday when the track filed a writ of mandate against the California Department of Justice. According to the Santa Anita incident report, the DOJ did provide Nate Newby, Santa Anita general manager, with a receipt for the 26 machines. California racing receives no supplemental income and has lower purses than tracks in other big racing states. AdvertisementWithout supplemental purse income, California racing is in trouble because of the low purses, which leads to small field sizes and causes low mutuel handle, the financial engine that drives the sport.

Source: Los Angeles Times January 21, 2026 16:27 UTC