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 GOOD NEWS AT THE SPA HTA’s member Saratoga Equine Sports Center had more good news over the weekend, when five committee members of the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve VLTs for the track. The full board, whose new chairman has put off a scheduled January meeting until February 13, still has to give its approval, but things are looking up. Good news in Chicago, too, where horsemen boycotting the entry box, resulting in the loss of 4 nights and 43 races -- came to a settlement with Maywood and Balmoral Parks. Under the agreement, the tracks will guarantee $90,000 a night in purse distribution for the year, with a kick-out clause if wagering drops by 25% or more a night, and the horsemen agreed to three 9-horse fields a night at Maywood Park, at claiming levels no higher than $12,000. Racing resumed Saturday night. MASS. PHONE BETS BY APRIL It may be no April Fool’s Day this year at HTA’s Plainridge Racecourse, if Massachusetts Racing Commission chairman Robert Hutchinson can keep the advent of phone account wagering on schedule. Hutchinson told Ed Gray of the Boston Herald that he hopes that the way will be cleared by then for each of the state’s four racetracks to get their own systems underway. Hutchinson said, “I expect that it will go in for a hearing in the next 30 days and hope to have it in operation on or before April 1. Everyone’s signed off on it, but we still have to do the drill.” Under the new legislation, each track will be able to accept wagers by phone on all tracks that are offered on its simulcast menu that day. There will be no change in premiums paid for intratrack signals in the state, and payoffs will be the same on account wagering as at the track. January 7, 2002 NJ AWAITS SUBSIDY VOTE The New Jersey Assembly was scheduled to vote today, on the final voting session before a new legislature takes over in Trenton, on the $18 million dollar purse subsidy needed to keep the state’s tracks competitive. No word at press time. HOPE, AND SURPRISES, IN KY Janet Patton, the Lexington Herald-Leader’s Eclipse award-winning business writer, thinks a potential $532 million budget shortfall in the state bodes well for VLTs at tracks in Kentucky. She thinks the issue is important enough that she hied herself off to Toronto to see Woodbine, and returned to write that the biggest winner in racing these days isn’t Point Given or Storm Cat, Bob Baffert or D. Wayne Lukas, but Woodbine. Ms. Patton says the legislative jockeying on the issue starts tomorrow, and noted that Kentucky’s shrine of purity, Keeneland -- which didn’t even have a race announcer until they hired harness racing’s Kurt Becker a few years ago -- now is ready to accept slots. Track president Nick Nicholson says, “To say ‘we don’t want it’is no longer a responsible position to take.” Ms. Patton quoted Kentucky governor Paul Patton, who said “I normally don’t make comment on specific bills until I see them, but I would not be inclined to veto an action by the General Assembly that they already convinced me that they have enough votes to pass.” Whether the Assembly has enough is uncertain, but Kentucky tracks obviously are starting to lose their coyness in discussing the matter. Ms. Patton’s Eclipse, it turns out, will be presented at the Fountainbleau instead of the shiny new Diplomat, which isn’t ready. We could have warned the NTRA if asked. HTA was to have met at the Diplomat in 2001, but switched to 2003 when that spectacular new twin tower venture wasn’t finished. It still isn’t, plagued by leaks, embarrassing since it is owned by the plumbers’ union.
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 WAPLES SUSPENDED 30 DAYS Canada’s leading driver, Randy Waples, who set new records for races won (550) and money won by his mounts ($10,636,973) in 2001, has been suspended from driving for 30 days for verbally abusing the nation’s second leading driver, and Waples’ chief challenger, Chris Christoforou, in the Woodbine paddock after a race last month. The Woodbine Entertaiment Group also fined Waples $500 and placed him on probation for six months. “GR0WING SLOTS MOMENTUM” That was the word in Maryland as the General Assembly began its 2002 session yesterday. Delegate Howard (Pete) Rawlings once again introduced his bill for a public referendum on legalizing slots at the state’s tracks, telling the Baltimore Sun that “Clearly there’s a growing momentum for lots. All it does is add gambling where it already exists. It’s almost like adding keno to the lottery.” Rawlings acknowledged that the Senate faces a problem in voting for the measure because of the reelection campaigns of a number of its members, but said that attitude “overlooks the possibility of all of that money going to help schools and libraries instead of going to Delaware and West Virginia,” both of which have VLTs at their tracks. “Ultimately,” Rawlings told the paper, “We’re going to be surrounded by gambling, and we’ll have to have it. But until we realize it, we’re losing all this money.” IT’S SIR DOMINIC NOW Dominic Frinzi, longtime president of Harness Horsemen’s International and president of the Milwaukee Italian Community Center, has been knighted by the Republic of Italy. Frinzi, 80, has been named “cavaliere all-ordine del merito della Republica Italiana.” A formal knighting will be in Chicago soon. January 8, 2002 GET THIS FIRSTHAND IN VEGAS Today’s London Daily Telegraph carries a major story on MGM Mirage, the world’s second largest gaming company, launching a United Kingdom online sports betting site this summer, calling it “the first major challenge by the Las Vegas casinos to British bookmakers.” Attendees at the third Harness Racing Congress at the Mirage in Las Vegas next month will hear the story firsthand -- and views on the Internet and its role on the future of horse racing -- when J. Terrence Lanni, president and CEO of MGM Mirage, addresses the general session of the Congress on the morning of February 21. If you haven’t already made your Mirage reservations, contact HTA. And if you haven’t already made your air reservations, you might want to do that now too, with special fares available at online services on the Internet. COMPLEXITIES OF TAKEOUT Yesterday’s New York Daily News carried an interesting story by sports writer Jerry Bossert on the issue of lowering takeout. After writing about the New York Racing Association’s experiment with lower takeout at Saratoga Race Course last summer, Bossert wrote, “Most tracks around the country haven’t followed NYRA’s lead, but now might be more inclined to give it a try. However, as is usually the case in horse racing, it’s not that simple. Keeneland in Lexington, KY, reduced the takeout at its fall meet only to see New York City OTBs refuse to take its signal, arguing the takeout rates at Keeneland were too low for OTB to make money. As a result, NYC-OTB took wagers on an inferior product, primarily Calder Race Course in Miami. Meanwhile, NYC-OTB is currently making more money than last year on the NYRA signal with the reduced takeout, due to the higher handle. NYRA’s current takeout rate is 14% on straight wagering and 17.5% on multiple pools.
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