Waste of the Day: ND Mismanaged Horse Racing

Topline: Every taxpayer in North Dakota is losing money gambling on horse races, even those who never placed a bet.

North Dakota Racing Commission spent money questionably

The state’s Racing Commission, a five-member board that ensures horse racing is fair and profitable, has awarded ill-advised grants and spent too much money on its own operation, according to a state audit released in April.

Key facts: The Commission awarded 349 grants worth $2.9 million from 2021 to 2025, and the audit randomly reviewed 25 of them. Three of the grants went to racetracks that never applied for them, totaling $25,500. Another three went to recipients who never reported what they spent the money on.

Two grants worth almost $2,000 went to horse owners who never submitted records proving they owned a horse. The grants were withheld at first, but two weeks later the state made a “one-time exception” and awarded the money. 

The Commission also spent nearly $70,000 on advertising, but almost all spending had no written contracts. That meant the Commission may have been overcharged or not received everything it paid for, according to the audit. A report from 2024 already flagged the problem, but it continued in 2025.

North Dakota typically earns more than $4 million per year from taxes on horse race winnings. The Commission gets more than $1 million of that, 25% of which can be spent on operating expenses like salaries and travel. But the Commission “did not calculate the spending limit or track expenditures towards it,” according to the audit. Over four years, officials exceeded the 25% limit by $327,447.

Nearly half a million dollars

All told, the Commission spent at least $424,947 on ill-advised grants and advertising without contracts, with the bulk of it overspent on salaries and travel.

Search all federal, state and local salaries and vendor spending with the world’s largest government spending database at OpenTheBooks.com. 

Supporting quote: Bruce Johnson, executive director of the Commission, agreed the audit found “significant issues” but downplayed the overall findings.

“To me, it’s just a typical audit that does point out some things that we should look at,” he told the North Dakota Monitor. “I’m positive that the people in charge at the time made the right decision in their mind.”

Summary: Betting on horses is supposed to be risky, but managing taxpayer money should not be a gamble.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.