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
VERNON TRIES AGAIN TODAY
The New York Racing and Wagering Board, meeting
yesterday at Vernon Downs, declined to license
the track and tabled the matter, raising questions
about financing including the status of Shawn Scott,
the Las Vegas investor who has loaned Vernon
$8.5 million to stay afloat. The track used $3.5
million to avoid foreclosure on its Vernon Country
Suites Hotel, where yester-days’ racing board
meeting was held. Board chairman Mike Hoblock
said the board had spent six months investigating
Eric Cherry’s agreement to buy Vernon, but had
only a week or so to check on Scott’s bid and his
background. The board’s deputy director of audits
and investi-gations reported yesterday that
during that brief time he found “regulatory compliance
issues” involving Scott in other states. In
response, Scott said he would relinquish any control
over the Mid-State Raceway board, which
operates Vernon Downs, and over Vernon president
Justice Cheney, while the board was checking
his own credentials. Cheney said the 15%
annual interest Scott is charging for his loan was
not out of line with other loans Vernon has taken
out in recent years, and the Associated Press reported
the track carried seven mortgages. Racing
board executive director asked Cheney about
Vernon’s future financial viability if it received an
interim license, and Cheney replied, “I don’t have
an answer for you.” Former HTA and Maryland
Jockey Club executive Jim Mango, now a Mid-
State Board member representing Eric Cherry, said
Cherry was willing to risk his investment with other
shareholders, but that Scott had little personal risk
if the track fails. Also representing Cherry yesterday
was Morty Finder, a longtime figure in the
sport, who said Mid-State’s action raised “an
aroma of double-dealing” that might require court
action. Racing board chairman Hoblock
said the board would consider the application
again today.
April 3, 2002
NEXT WORD FROM BUFFY
Taking a light touch, this is how the Lexington
Herald-Leader’s Janet Patton sized up the struggle
for VLTs for tracks in Kentucky today, under a
headline reading, “Slots bill is dead, or maybe it
isn’t. Patton is noncommittal.”
Ms. Patton’s story read, “The slots bill is
dead....unless it gets sucked into the budget freefor-all.
Otherwise, the slots bill is dead.....unless
the budget bickering blossoms into a special legislative
session. But otherwise, the slots bill really
is dead....unless the governor calls a special
session just for slots. For now, until we hear from
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the slots bill is slumbering
in a dead-end committee with a Senate stake
in its mechanical-fruit heart.......An April Fool’s Day
joke pretended to spring the controversial bill for
a vote, but later on Monday night, House Bill 768
was quietly buried in the Appropriations and Revenue
committee.”
Proponents, including the House bill’s sponsor,
Rep. Jim Callahan, the Majority Caucus chairman,
promised they would be back. Callahan said if there
were no agreement on the state budget and a special
session is called, he will ask Gov. Paul Patton
to consider putting slots on the table. Patton was
non-committal about doing so if he calls a special
session on the budget, saying, “Slots have not
been our agenda, and we never proposed a budget
based on slots.” And if that were not negative
enough, House Speaker pro tem Larry Clark, a
strong supporter of the bill, said, “I think it’s probably
at the funeral home right now.”
In Arizona, Gov. Jane Hull said the state’s horse
and dog tracks were lying and distorting facts on
her plan to continue Indian casino operations. She
told legislators tracks were “playing fast
and loose with the truth” in radio and newspaper
ads they ran opposing her plan.