CHRB ADVISORY FOR UNCLAIMED TICKETS
SACRAMENTO, CA – All unclaimed(uncashed) pari-mutuel tickets purchased at race meets in California during the calendar year 2019 will be expiring after May 14, 2020. At this time all racetracks and simulcast wagering facilities in California are closed to the public. Therefore, anyone wishing to cash unclaimed tickets while wagering locations are closed should take the following steps:
Attn: Pari-Mutuel Department P.O. Box 60014 Arcadia, CA 91066-6014
A check will be mailed to the address provided. The Santa Anita Pari-Mutuel Department will process all uncashed tickets purchased in California, including off-track simulcast locations and Northern California racetracks. This process should take 7-10 business days but perhaps longer depending on volume. Unclaimed tickets include uncashed winning pari-mutuel tickets and uncashed refunds due to canceled races and/or horses being scratched (withdrawn). All claims must be received by the Santa Anita Pari-Mutuel Department by May 15, 2020, to be honored.
Vouchers (the equivalent of cash) purchased at California racetracks and wagering facilities are not pari-mutuel tickets. Vouchers expire 365 days after the close of the meet at which they were purchased, so any voucher purchased in California will not expire before December 31, 2020. Vouchers also can be redeemed through the Santa Anita Pari-Mutuel Department, but the May 15 deadline does not apply.
The May 15 deadline for cashing pari-mutuel tickets is established by Business& Professions Code Section 19598, which states:
Any person claiming to be entitled to any part of a redistribution from a parimutuel pool operated by a licensee under this chapter, who fails to claim the money due the person prior to the completion of the horse racing meeting at which the pool was formed, may file a claim with the association issuing the person’s ticket prior to May 15 of the year immediately following the close of the horse racing meeting. The funds that were unclaimed within the period specified under this section are designated as “unclaimed tickets” and shall be distributed in accordance with this chapter.
Pursuant to Businessand Professions Code section 19641, the Horse Racing Law further requires:
All suchunclaimed money resulting from the thoroughbred, harness, or quarter horse racemeets, excluding the race meets of the California Exposition and State Fair, county,district agricultural association, or citrus fruit fair race meets, shall be distributed asfollows:
1. Fifty percent of live races unclaimedpari-mutuel tickets shall be paid to a welfarefund established by the horsemen’s organization contracting with the association with respect to the conduct of the racingmeet for the benefit of the horsemen, and the said organization shallmake an accounting to the Board within one calendar year of the receipt of suchpayment.
2. Theother 50 percent of live races unclaimed pari-mutuel tickets shall be dividedequally between the association (as commissions) and horsemen (in the form of purses). Notwithstanding the distributionof live races unclaimed tickets, unclaimed ticket monies generated by wageringon intrastate (north/south) thoroughbred and fair races and interstate importsare split equally between purses and commissions.
3. Unclaimed refundsprovide health and welfare benefitsto California licensedjockeys, former California licensed jockeys,and their dependents. The California JockeyWelfare Corporation is the organization designated by the CHRBto receive these funds.
The expiration on vouchers is established by Business& Professions Code Section 19642, which states:
Cash vouchersthat are not redeemed within365 days of the close of the racing meeting at which the voucher was purchased are distributed to a nonprofitorganization for the purposesof maintaining a database of horse-racing information.