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
FORGET OHIO SLOTS FOR NOW
That’s the word from Ohio state senator Lou Blessing,
the man who sponsored the legislation that
would have brought slots to Ohio tracks. He says
the measure “is probably dead...for now.” The
Cleveland Plain Dealer quoted Blessing to that
effect, and attributed the defeat to “a veto threat
from the governor, a groundswell of opposition and
time constraints.” And Ohio State football. Blessing
told the paper that “even if we would pass this
in the next two weeks or so, I have no doubt that
the governor would wait 10 days and then veto the
bill. We would be asking people to come back after
Christmas for an override vote, and I suspect
a whole lot of them are going to be in Tempe, Arizona.”
Tempe, of course is where Ohio State’s
undefeated Buckeyes will be playing Miami in the
Fiesta Bowl for the national championship. It
should be Southern Cal, but it will be Miami. Go
to the bank with it.
LAST GASP FOR AZ TRACKS
The news was no better for Arizona’s racetracks
than it was for those in Ohio. The horse and dog
tracks’ attorney in Arizona, turned down by three
courts in three days last week, filed a brief with
the Court of Appeals and the court said it would
hear his arguments. The same court refused to
grant an immediate injunction to stop implementation
of Proposition 202, which was a victory for
Indian tribes and a defeat for tracks, and so did
the state Supreme Court. In the seemingly unlikely
event that the Court of Appeals acts before
Gov. Jane Hull signs new compacts under the provisions
of Proposition 202, which could be as early
as tomorrow, it appears the Arizona situation will
remain largely status quo, except that it will allow
17 Indian tribes to have up to 29 casinos, with no
tribe to have more than 998 slots, and a
state cap of 15,675.
December 2, 2002
INTRIGUING THOUGHT IN MD
Steve Wynn, building in Las Vegas, Atlantic City
and Macau, now would like to build in Maryland,
and the scenario is fascinating. Wynn showed up
in Annapolis recently to meet with legislative leaders,
and tried -- but failed -- to get an audience
with governor-elect Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. as well.
A spokesman for the new governor told the Baltimore
Sun that it was felt “inappropriate” for
Ehrlich to meet with Wynn, now a declared interested
party for a slots license in Maryland after
telling legislators he wants to build a major entertainment
complex with racing, slots and entertainment
in the state. The chairman of the Maryland
house appropriations committee, Howard P.
Rawlings, said that in order for Wynn to get involved,
“he either has to buy a racetrack, or enter
into a relationship with one of the racetrack owners,”
which would mean either Magna Entertainment,
now in control of Pimlico and Laurel; Centaur
Inc., about to become owners of Rosecroft;
or the Rickman family, which owns Ocean Downs.
That type of relationship has precedent in nearby
Delaware, where Caesars World runs the highly
successful racino at Dover Downs. Rawlings
sounded one ominous note when he told the Sun
that some Prince George’s county legislators might
seek to license slots at Baltimore’s National Harbor
rather than at Rosecroft Raceway, but the
Peterson Companies, developers of the National
Harbor development, say that a casino is not in
their plans and neighborhood residents there
oppose the idea. It also seems highly unlikely
that governor Ehrlich would allow three of the
state’s four racetracks to have slots to keep them
competitive and allow Rosecroft to fall by the
wayside without them. Maryland Senate president
Mike Miller, who met with Wynn, said he told
him that the new governor’s vision of slots encompassed
racetracks and tracks only.