Sacramento Adult Entertainment: Illegal Horse Races, Cruelty Allegations Sweep Calif.
Some of the film was taken at a track near Lodi. Like any other race, there’s a starting gate and a photo finish that determines the winner.
But “our investigation found that some of these horses were $100,000 horses,” Rodriguez said.
Owners are betting $25,000 — even $50,000 on their horses.
And that’s in addition to the wagers placed by spectators; sometimes up to 2,000 people who pay an entry fee to watch.
None of the races or betting is regulated.
And it’s not the illegal races that caught the Department of Justice’s attention, Rodriguez said.
“A lot of transactions in the drug trade occur here, along with other activities going on — from illegal lotteries, to vice, there’s a lot of prostitution, there’s a lot of other things going on at these properties,” he told KCRA 3.