HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICA Executive Newsletter

HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICA
Executive Newsletter
A daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyond
Stanley F. Bergstein, Editor
March 4, 2008
JOY ABOUNDS IN NEW JERSEY
Those fireworks and joyous whoops in New Jersey
mean it’s over, at least for the next three years.
Gov. Jon Corzine made good on his promise to
racing, hammering long and hard to reach an
agreement where the Atlantic City casinos will
provide $30 million a year for three years to help
keep the state’s horse racing industry on even
keel, and in the case of harness racing in its position
of North American dominance at the Meadowlands.
The governor said, “Both the equine
industry and the casino industry play important
roles in New Jersey, from preserving open space
to attracting visitors, and it was essential to
strike a balance that will allow both industries to
thrive.” The casinos signed off on the $90 million
supplement package for purses and help to the
breeding industry in return for a moratorium on
slots at tracks during the three-year time frame.
Corzine said the agreement would involve no taxpayer
dollars and would not reduce casino funds
that flow to the state, but legislators who want
slots at the Meadowlands were not as overjoyed
as the people who race there. State senator Paul
Sarlo, who represents the Meadowlands’ district,
is assistant majority leader, and sponsor of a bill
that would have brought 5,000 slots to the Big
M, told the Bergen Record, “If we want to remain
in the horseracing industry, we are going to
have to enact VLTs in our horseracing tracks.”
Barbara DeMarco, a thoroughbred lobbyist,
told the paper, “We are grateful, we appreciate
it, but it doesn’t solve our problem long term.
For us to sit there and say Atlantic City is an island,
and we can’t touch it. You can’t operate in
a vacuum. Forty-eight states have some form of
gaming.” Dennis Dowd, senior vice president of
racing at both the Meadowlands and Monmouth
Park, who played a large role in sustaining high
purses at the Meadowlands during the
negotiations, said he looked forward to
talent-filled fields this summer.
HOOSIER ‘OWNS OWN HOUSE’
New Jersey is not the only place celebrating today.
HTA member Hoosier Park in Indiana is
happy too, its owner Centaur getting approval
from the Anderson, Indiana, Parks Board to
buy the land on which the track sits, and on
which Centaur is building a major racino, for
$750,000. Track president and HTA director
Rick Moore had said Hoosier wanted to own its
own house and control its own destiny, and he
gets his wish. Hoosier had been leasing the land
from Anderson for $125,000 a year and 0.5% of
pari-mutuel revenue, amounting to $2.1 million
in rent from 1994 to 2005. Until now, Hoosier
had to get approval from the Parks Board for
any material changes. HTA executive committee
member Jeff Smith, Centaur’s managing director
of racing, told the Anderson Herald Bulletin
that the purchase “affects every aspect of how
we do business.”
PLAINRIDGE WILL BE THERE
Massachusetts legislators will hold a hearing on
Gov. Deval Patrick’s proposed casino plans at 10
a.m. Tuesday, March 18, in Boston, and Plainridge
Racecourse plans to be well represented to
let the lawmakers know it wants one. The track,
which opens its 2008 season the previous day on
St. Patrick’s Day, has asked the Massachusetts
Racing Commission for permission to cancel racing
on Tuesday so horsemen and other interested
parties can attend the hearings in numbers and
let the legislators hear their voices. The House
Speaker, Sal DiMasi, is strongly resisting the
governor’s slot plan.
A GOOD JOB OPPORTUNITY
An HTA member track with a major racino is
looking for an experienced Program Editor/
Charter. If you are interested send your resume
to HTA and we will forward to our member
track for its consideration.