2002 - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

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
SUPERFECTA BACK AT WEG
Following a meeting of racing executives, officials
of all three major tote companies, Racetracks of
Canada and the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency,
superfecta wagering is being restored to the betting
calendar of Woodbine Entertainment and other
Canadian tracks today. Pick Fours and Pick Sixes
will remain banned by the CPMA while information
has been successfully evaluated, and the organization
agreed that while it conducts its own
investigations it will participate with the NTRA
Technology Task Force to develop a North American
standard for multi-race scan bets. Racetracks
of Canada executive vice president Stephen
Edwards called Friday’s meeting “very successful
and productive.”
In another development on the technology front,
the University of Arizona Race Track Industry
Program has made a late change in its Symposium
agenda, adding a panel discussion on “The Integrity
of Technology” to its Wednesday, December
11 program. Doug Reed, director of the RTIP,
said, “Given the recent series of events and the
potential changes within the industry as a result,
this is a ‘must have’ panel.” To make room for it,
Reed rescheduled a session on “Account Wagering
-- Bettors, Boundaries and Barriers” to 8 a.m.
Friday, Dec. 13. The latest Symposium on Racing
scheduling, with speaker listings, can be found at
www.ag.arizona.edu/rtip.
HTA DIRECTORS -- CALL SABLE
To all HTA directors: If you are planning on attending
the Racing Symposium, please pick up the
phone and call 520-529-2525 and let Sable Downs
know. Or fax her at 520-529-3235. Or e-mail her
at sable@harnesstracks.com and let her know if
you or a track representative will be coming,
and what day and what time you will
be arriving, so we know who will be attending
from HTA tracks.
November 18, 2002
MORE HASSLING IN INDIANA
Indiana Downs moves closer to its scheduled Dec.
6 inaugural harness racing meeting, and is embroiled
in another dispute with its neighbor, Hoosier
Park. Indiana Downs officials were scheduled
to appear at a racing commission meeting today
to argue that they deserve half of the $11 million
subsidy that racing receives from riverboat
admissions this year. Hoosier Park has received
the subsidies for the last seven years, but Indiana
Downs, which will race only 19 programs in calendar
2002, says it is entitled to half of this year’s
money. “Riverboat funds are a subsidy, and subsidies
are meant to help fledgling businesses,”
says Doug Brown, a track attorney. He says his
client is investing $35 million into the state and
has hired hundreds of people to build the track.
Current rules provide that 2002 subsidies be split
on the basis of how much each track handles during
the year, but Indiana Downs wants the rule
changed. Rick Moore, president of Hoosier Park,
took a slightly different view than Brown. “This
takes absurdity to the next level,” Moore says.
“It is so totally unfair that it would be laughable if
it weren’t so serious.” Coming up next, a debate
at next month’s racing board meeting about the
location of off-track betting parlors, which handle
90% of the money bet on Indiana racing.
NEED A LOAN? TRY THIS GUY
The Seneca Indians, building a casino in downtown
Niagara Falls, NY, came up a little short on scratch.
They have found a friend, however, in a visitor
from the Orient, bearing gifts. Lim Kok Thay, the
50-something son of a developer of an exotic
mountaintop casino in Malaysia, has loaned money
to Indians for a casino before, namely hugely successful
Foxwoods in Connecticut. He has come
through again, loaning the Senecas $80 million on
a five-year, adjustable rate loan carrying
29% interest.