January - 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
January 15, 2008
POCONO SLOTS TOP THE EAST
Slot machines at HTA member Mohegan Sun
at Pocono are the most productive in the east,
according to a gambling research firm, and two
other HTA member track’s racinos -- The Meadows
and Chester Downs -- occupy the top five.
Spectrum Gaming Group of Linwood, NJ, reports
that the slots at Mohegan at Pocono generated
an average $403 a day in the Sept. 20 thru
Nov. 30 quarter. Mohegan Sun in Connecticut,
the parent of the Pocono operation, was second
during that span with $390 a machine, followed
by Philadelphia Park’s $369, The Meadows
Racetrack and Casino’s $347, and Harrah’s
Chester Casino and Racetrack’s $322. Bobby
Soper, president and CEO of Mohegan Sun at
Pocono, said he was pleased but not surprised at
the results. “Pennsylvania is a robust market,”
he said, and it follows it will be for harness horses
racing there as well. The Spectrum Group’s
managing director, Michael Pollock, said,
“You’ve got some very sharp operators there.
They know how to reach players and give them
what they want.” Gross revenue at Pennsylvania’s
six operating slots parlors was $1.04 billion
last year. The state takes 55% of gross gaming
revenue, giving it $572 million in 2007. Racing
is not the only beneficiary. The state’s taxpayers
will receive property tax cuts, and budget secretary
Michael Masch says a relief fund for that
purpose now contains $576 million. At year’s
end there were 12,686 slot machines operating in
the state, according to Philly.com.
OLDIES ARE GOODIES
Florida gets more than its share of senior citizens,
and its US Harness Writers chapter intends to
see that they are recognized. This year it is sending
old timers Alan Prince and Murray Janoff
into the Communicators Hall of Fame in
Goshen, and nominating Erwin Grossman
and John Berry for next year.
AXELROD IN, STARTS HAPPILY
Ivan Axelrod, chairman of the board of the
United States Trotting Association, has a new
job as well. The California financial manager
has been named president of Sacramento Harness
Association, racing at Cal Expo, succeeding
Ralph Scurfield, the former longtime chairman
of the California Horse Racing Board, who
has resigned his SHA presidency but remains a
member of the board of directors. Axelrod was
greeted with good news, as its Cal Expo landlord,
which had granted rent relief last May, reduced
its rent another $30,000 a month. SHA, a
not-for-profit association, now will pay $180,000
a month rather than $210,000. The reduction
came at the urging of the California Horse Racing
Board, and opens the way for negotiation for
a new lease for its 10-month meetings. General
manager Dick Feinberg says SHA now hopes to
exercise the first of its three one-year options,
covering next September thru July of 2009.
AS WE WERE SAYING.....
When we were so rudely interrupted recently,
the Pennsylvania thoroughbred and harness
racing boards will be reorganized and placed
under the oversight of one person, to be chosen
after a nationwide search according to Gov. Ed
Rendell’s chief of staff, Greg Fajt. Fajt said the
majority of both staffs are expected to remain
in place. There currently are three harness and
three thoroughbred tracks in Pennsylvania, with
a fourth harness track and racino to be built in
Lawrence county in western Pennsylvania.
JOHNNY PODRES DEAD AT 75
Johnny Podres, famed as the winning pitcher for
the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1955 World Series,
and a harness racing fan and horse owner, has
died at 75.