§ 304. Right to hold harness race meetings and races. Any corporation
formed under the provisions of sections two hundred twenty-two through
seven hundred five of this chapter, and any corporation or association
which shall have conducted harness horse race meetings during two years
prior to March thirty-first, nineteen hundred forty, and any town or
county fair association or other fair association shall have the power
and the right to hold one or more harness horse race meetings in each
year and to hold, maintain and conduct harness races at such meetings.
At such harness race meetings the corporation or association, or the
owners of horses engaged in such races, or others who are not
participants in the race, may contribute purses, prizes, premiums or
stakes to be contested for, but no person or persons other than the
owner or owners of a horse or horses contesting in a race shall have any
pecuniary interest in a purse, prize, premium or stake contested for in
such race, or be entitled to or receive any portion thereof after such
race is finished, and the whole of such purse, prize, premium or stake
shall be allotted in accordance with the terms and conditions of such
race. Such meeting shall not be held except during the period extending
from the first day of January to the thirty-first day of December
inclusive in each year. In counties having a population of two hundred
fifty thousand or less, the commission may, however, permit the holding
of one or more harness horse race meetings and the conduct of harness
races at such meetings on a day or days not during such period if the
commission is satisfied that a special occasion makes the holding of
such meetings and the conduct of such races on such day or days proper
or necessary; but in no event shall such meetings or races be held or
conducted on the twenty-fifth day of December. Such power and right,
however, shall not include the right to conduct pari-mutuel betting at
such harness horse race meetings except pursuant to license granted by
the commission pursuant to sections two hundred twenty-two through seven
hundred five of this chapter.

§ 45. Section 305 of the racing, pari-mutuel wagering and breeding law
is amended to read as follows:

§ 305. Pari-mutuel betting at harness races. No more than eight
corporations or associations shall be licensed by the commission in any
one year to conduct a pari-mutuel meet or meets. Said pari-mutuel
betting conducted at such meetings shall be under the general
supervision and control of the commission which shall make rules
regulating the conduct of such pari-mutuel betting in accordance with
the provisions of sections two hundred twenty-two through seven hundred
five of this chapter. The department of taxation and finance is charged
with the financial administration of pari-mutuel betting as prescribed
in this article and as supplemented by the rules and regulations of the
commission. The department of taxation and finance shall have authority
to prescribe the forms and the system of accounting to be employed, and
through its representatives shall at all times have power of access to
and examination of any equipment relating to such betting.