HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICA Executive Newsletter
HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICA Executive Newsletter
HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICA Executive Newsletter
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<strong>HARNESS</strong> <strong>TRACKS</strong> <strong>OF</strong> <strong>AMERICA</strong><br />
THE BOY WHO CRIED OTB<br />
Like the fable of similar name, no one believes<br />
him after the repeated cries. Does Michael<br />
Bloomberg really think Albany will be coerced<br />
by his threats to close a city industry that provides<br />
1,500 jobs and handles $1 billion of New<br />
York’s $2.7 billion in annual wagering. The New<br />
York Times expressed skepticism in its story today,<br />
reporter Ray Rivera writing, “Whether real<br />
or a mere negotiating tactic, the plan promises<br />
to intensify debate in Albany” as the legislature<br />
considers the fate of the New York Racing Association.<br />
Rivera went on to write that “some<br />
industry analysts said the plan looked more like<br />
a bargaining ploy,” and he quoted Daily Racing<br />
Form publisher and columnist Steve Crist as saying,<br />
“It’s 100 percent posturing. OTB is looking<br />
for a larger slice of the betting handle.” New York<br />
City OTB president Ray Casey says the threat is<br />
real. “It’s very serious,” he told Rivera,“We’ve<br />
been trying for years to have the inequities corrected,<br />
and this is an action at this point for<br />
us, and for me personally, of last resort.” The<br />
Bloomberg threat to shut down OTB June 15 if<br />
no legislative relief is forthcoming might carry<br />
some credibility if the issue of selling OTB were<br />
discussed at the same time. Why anyone would<br />
close down an operation worth hundreds of millions<br />
of dollars to private operators without serious<br />
efforts to sell it makes it difficult to believe<br />
that the threat is anything other than the Times<br />
story implies: a bargaining ploy.<br />
MEANWHILE, IN HARRISBURG...<br />
While the NYRA and New York City OTB matters<br />
occupy Albany legislators, their counterparts<br />
in Pennsylvania’s House were enjoying an<br />
orgy of tax cut proposals following on the heels<br />
of exceptional success with slots at the state’s racinos.<br />
The legislators went on what Philly.<br />
com called “a tax-cutting stampede” of<br />
proposals for billions of dollars of cuts.<br />
<strong>Executive</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />
A daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyond<br />
Stanley F. Bergstein, Editor<br />
January 17, 2008<br />
No action was taken, because all the talk involved<br />
amendments to an underlying property tax issue<br />
up for consideration today. Yesterday’s proposals<br />
included slashing personal income taxes by a<br />
billion and other hugely expensive cuts on everything<br />
from cell phone taxes to inheritance taxes<br />
and pet adoptions. House members, Philly.com<br />
reported, paid little heed to warnings about the<br />
enormous hole they were potentially blowing in<br />
the state budget.<br />
WHAT ELSE IS NEW?<br />
Thoroughbred horsemen, acting through their<br />
eastern-based Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association,<br />
are asking state racing commissions to<br />
slow down the rush to enact bans on steroids.<br />
Daily Racing Form reports THA chairman Alan<br />
Foreman as saying the intent of the delaying effort<br />
is to avoid “unfair punishments” that would<br />
result from horses moving from anti-anabolic<br />
states to those not adopting such rules. Unification<br />
of rules is, of course, the mission of the Racing<br />
Medication and Testing Consortium, of which<br />
Foreman is an influential board member. Foreman<br />
notes that the goal is not yet accomplished.<br />
“Right now,” he was quoted in the Form, “we’ve<br />
got this piecemeal approach for a problem that<br />
needs a national solution.” Will someone please<br />
step up and bell the commissioners’ cat.<br />
FORE! CONTACT HTA’S BRODY<br />
If you want a respite from the work scheduled<br />
for consideration at the upcoming HTA/TRA<br />
joint annual meeting, now is the time to contact<br />
Brody Johnson at HTA. Golf has been arranged<br />
for Monday afternoon, Feb. 18, starting at 1<br />
p.m., for men and ladies, with clubs and shoes<br />
available for rental. Transportation will be provided<br />
to the course, 1.7 miles and 5 minutes from<br />
the hotel. Brody has full details.