NTRA Purchases Digital Fingerprint Machine For National Racing Compact

Robin Williams, chairman of the National Racing Compact (NRC), announced today that the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) has agreed to purchase a portable, digital fingerprint machine for the Compact.

Mrs. Williams stated, "We are thrilled that the NTRA has provided the funding for a state of the art, inkless fingerprint machine," she said. "We want to take the licensing process to the applicants. With a digital machine and a digital camera, we can go on the road, go to the tracks, go to the association meetings, and sign up lots of people quickly and easily."

"Fingerprints are still a bottleneck in the process," said Mrs. Williams. "We can’t eliminate the requirement, but we can make it easier. The digital machine is cleaner and more inviting for the applicant, and it provides better prints."

Greg Avioli, chief operating officer of the NTRA stated, "We are delighted to help the NRC as it endeavors to make the licensing process less intimidating for all industry participants. This is an extremely important project, and we encourage others in the industry to support it in any way then can."

"Our goal has always been to streamline licensing without compromising the integrity of the process from a regulatory standpoint," said Mrs. Williams.

The National Racing Compact is an intergovernmental, interstate compact authorized by the participating states to review criminal history information and issue a multi-state license for participants in racing. Applicants can apply for a license on-line at www.racinglicense.com.

The national license is now recognized in 16 states which include members of the compact or other jurisdictions including: Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia. New York participates in the licensing program, but pending passage of state legislation, issues it’s own state license.