Operators of live horse racing, historic horse racing, and simulcast events sought judicial review under the Wyoming Administrative Procedure Act (WAPA) of county board of commissioners’ resolution revoking and superseding permits to conduct simulcast operations, asserting the resolution exceeded county’s statutory authority under the Wyoming Pari-Mutuel Act.
The District Court ordered the resolution to be set aside. County appealed.
The Supreme Court held that:
- The resolution was subject to judicial review under WAPA, and
- County lacked express or implied authority under the Pari-Mutuel Act to adopt resolution revoking its prior approvals.
County board of commissioners’ resolution, which revoked and superseded prior approvals of pari-mutuel and simulcast permits authorizing operators to conduct simulcast operations in county, was not legislative action, but instead was an administrative decision subject to judicial review under Wyoming Administrative Procedure Act (WAPA), even though resolution generally imposed conditions on all future approvals for simulcasting; resolution specifically revoked county’s prior approvals for particular operators and thereby aggrieved or adversely affected them.
Pari-Mutuel Act only granted county authority to approve, or, impliedly, to deny a corporation’s request for approval for proposed pari-mutuel and simulcast operations as a condition precedent to Wyoming Gaming Commission issuing a pari-mutuel permit or authorizing the corporation to conduct simulcasting off the permitted premises, and therefore, after Gaming Commission had issued permits and authorized simulcasting, county board of commissioners lacked express or implied authority under the Act to adopt resolution that revoked its prior approvals of simulcasting off of permitted live horse racetrack premises within county.