2002 - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

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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 MORE ON ROSECROFT More details on the offers for Rosecroft Raceway have surfaced. Tom Winebrenner, president of the board of directors of the Cloverleaf Standardbred Owners Association, which owns the track and last week announced it would choose one of three bidders by Oct. 17, told the Baltimore Sun that the $68 million offer by Magna Entertainment included $12 million for the track itself, plus capital improvements, backstretch upgrades and guaranteed purses for 10 years. Magna guaranteed purses of $80,000 a day for six years and $55,000 a day for four years after that, with a kicker if the track gets slot machines. The offers of $49 million by Greenwood Racing, the parent of Philadelphia Park, and $47 million by Centaur Racing, part owner of Hoosier Park, also included guaranteed purses as part of their packages. Lou Ulman, chairman of the Maryland Racing Commission, told the Sun that if Magna is chosen as the successful buyer and winds up owning Rosecroft and Maryland’s two thoroughbred tracks -- Pimlico and Laurel -- “it could be very positive or very negative,” and that the commission would have to evaluate that situation. CAN TRACK SLOTS HURT A.C.? A question that no one thought would ever be asked is now on the table in New Jersey. It is if slots at the state’s race tracks would seriously impact the goose that lays golden eggs in Atlantic City. At least one legislator thinks not, and stood up and said so at a meeting of the Assembly Tourism and Gaming Committee. “In my opinion,” said Assemblyman John S. Wisniewski, a Middlesex Democrat, “you’re never going to hurt casinos by putting slots at tracks.” He noted that slots in Delaware have not kept people from there from going to Atlantic City, and thoroughbred lobbyist Barbara DeMarco Reich told the committee that Jersey tracks must have that help to meet out-of-state competition. September 23, 2002 The committee was told that track attendance in New Jersey has dropped 30% in the last five years, and handle has plummeted 35% in that time. Green space -- acreage devoted to horses -- declined from 120,000 acres 15 years ago to 80,000 in the decade following. No casino representatives attended the hearing, but you can be sure they were burning up the phone lines, and that they will fight the idea every step of the way. The very fact that the issue is being discussed, however, has to be a positive sign. BIG PLANS FOR THE COMPLEX “Ambitious” is perhaps the best description of the plans for the Meadowlands Sports Complex that were submitted by six developers last week, and which will be considered by the Sports Authority between now and the end of the year, when the winner hopefully will be announced. One observer, the Bergen county executive, called them “Grandiose and comprehensive.” They included: An $815 million proposal by a partnership of Hartz Mountain Industries and Forest City Ratner for an Expo Park that would include a convention center, offices, hotels, and indoor Formula One-style racing center and an extreme sports center. Two motor racing themes, one a $451 million hotel and office complex around a 1.35 mile oval with a 100,000 seat grandstand, and another a $1.5 billion plan for a Garden State International Speedway, with stores, entertainment and a rejuvenated Meadowlands Race Track. MeadowFest, a $41.5 million shopping and interactive entertainment center, and Arena Place, a $989 million urban village. And at $1.2 billion, Xanadu, with indoor surfing and skiing, a children’s recreational village, and a luxury spa. The old block will never look the same.
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 THE GAO SPEAKS UP Another voice has been heard from on the Internet gaming issue, this time in Washington where the General Accounting Office said that ambiguities contained in the Wire Act could legally hamper the applicability of the act to Internet gambling. That probably is not what congressmen Michael Oxley of Ohio, John LaFalce of New York and Spencer Bachus of Alabama were looking for when they asked the GAO to prepare an interim statement for a report, due in November, that they had requested. According to Interactive Gaming News, the GAO did not report any firm conclusion about the legality of Internet betting, but did note that “certain ambiguities” may limit its applicability, one example being whether its provisions apply to all types of betting or are limited to sporting events and contests. The Department of Justice, of course, takes the view that the Wire Act is not limited, but the GAO points out that case law is conflicting on the issue. In another view of the issue, Frank Fahrenkopf, spokesmen for the nation’s casinos, continues to walk a tightrope, or continues to try to stand on both sides of the issue. The former Republican party chairman blamed Bill Clinton for the present problems of the Internet issue, charging in a recent speech that the Department of Justice was simply echoing the arguments of the Clinton administration, even though it presumably has the full backing of the present administration to do what it pleases. Fahrenkopf wants it both ways, saying the recent letter from assistant U.S. Attorney General Michael Chertoff declaring that Internet gambling is illegal “was meaningless,” but at the same time saying his American Gaming Association still opposes it. Some of his biggest members still want it, however, so Fearless Frank has to stride like a colossus on both sides of the issue, the Janus of Internet gambling. He called the assistant attorney general’s letter “a minority view,” saying courts will decide the issue. September 24, 2002 CONNECTICUT GETS QUASHED As reported here yesterday, the state of Connecticut has been seeking to have a federal moratorium declared on recognition of Indian tribes, in an effort to slow down the spread of Indian gaming. Its Democratic senator Christopher Dodd tried yesterday, introducing the moratorium bill and saying on the floor that the tribal recognition process was broken and needed to be fixed, adding that “I don’t know anyone who really disagrees with that.” Shortly after, he discovered that 80 of his colleagues apparently disagreed, as they voted, 80 to 15, to reject Dodd’s amendment. The Las Vegas Review-Journal attributed the defeat to the growing influence of tribal gambling advocates on Capitol Hill, noting that in July, the House voted 273-151 to deny the creation of a federal commission to study whether organized crime has infiltrated Indian gaming. Senator Dodd was joined in his amendment push by fellow Democrat Joseph Lieberman, opposing the efforts of the Eastern Pequot tribe to build still another major casino in Connecticut, joining the Mashantucket Pequot’s Foxwoods Resort and the Mohegan Sun. Their quest was quashed by another Democrat, Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, who led the opposition and noted that the Eastern Pequots had sought tribal recognition 24 years ago, long before Indian gaming was ever dreamed of as an issue. Inouye disputed the idea that most Indian tribes are seeking recognition for gambling purposes, pointing out that the largest Indian tribe in North America, the Navajos, will not permit gambling on their lands. CASE IN HOT WATER...AGAIN Walter Case, who failed to show up for 36 drives at the Delaware County Fair, has been barred from that track and fined $1,800. Little Brown Jug boss Tom Thomson acknowledged Case’s huge talent, but asked, “What good is it? He’s got to get his life together.”
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2002 - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

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