Horse racing legislation to be tabled this year – Ramson

Following up on a promise made prior to the staging of the Guyana Cup 2022, legislation to regulate the sport of horse racing is expected to come to fruition in 2024.
Sport Minister Charles Ramson jr. made this disclosure during his year- end press conference on Friday morning at the Arthur Chung Conference Center (ACCC) at Liliendaal. He noted that the draft is completed, and will be tabled in Parliament in a matter of months.
“…and also significantly from a policy standpoint, we were able to conclude the drafting of the horse racing legislation, which will be tabled in Parliament in the first quarter or the first half of this year, so that the legislation will be passed this year,” the Sport Minister announced on Friday.

Ramson revealed the amount of work that went into completing the draft, which he described as painstaking. “We have done, on the legislation alone, in terms of actual sessions with stakeholders, we’ve probably done maybe 14 meetings, where we went through, provision by provision, legislation in other countries, full comparative analysis, what will work for us; and it was a painstaking process,” he related.
“It’s not one of the things you can speak about a lot, because not a lot of people are going to say, ‘Oh, you can see how much effort goes into that type of work’, but it’s a lot of painstaking kind of work. But my background, you know, that actually helped in this situation,” he explained.
Given that betting is a major part of the sport, Ramson Jr. was asked whether the legislation would cater to this aspect, and he replied in the affirmative, assuring, “Absolutely! So, I don’t want to say the main part, but an important part is betting. So, we couldn’t ignore that part, and it’s an important area for many countries to gain revenue too.”
According to the Sport Minister, the aim is to have the bill passed by time of the Guyana Cup, set for August 11th. However, he maintained that it would be dependent on Parliament’s timelines.
“Yes! So, we’re looking to lay this in the first quarter, based on our Parliamentary sessions, because you know budget is going to be finished in the first week or so of February. Depending on when the sessions come and how soon cabinet can do this, I’d say the first half of 2024, and that should give us enough time to pass it before the next Guyana Cup,” Ramson Jr. shared.
He went on to add, “Well, don’t hold me on the timeline, because we still got a Parliamentary factor there; but we’re hoping to get it in there before then. That’s our aim.”
Back in 2022, at the draw for the then 14th edition of the Guyana Cup horse race meeting, Ramson jr. had expressed his intention to have in place legislation to govern the sport, in an effort to modernize the sport and bring it up to international standards.