2005 - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICAExecutive NewsletterA daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyondStanley F. Bergstein, EditorBETFAIR AND THE BACK DOORBetfair, the English betting exchange that is tryingdesperately to get a foothold in America andAustralia, and is almost universally opposed bythe racing industry, has found a chink in the Australianarmor by hustling Tasmania, the islandof 456,000 people that lies directly south of Australia.The premier of Tasmania, Paul Lennon,wants Betfair, and the harness racing chairmanJohn Hammond recently gave his personal approvalof letting the exchange operate there, althoughhis board has not taken an official position.The thoroughbred industry strongly opposesthe idea, and so does racing in Australia,and Hammond accused the head of thoroughbredracing on the island of pushing the Australianview rather than thinking of Tasmania.Hammond went farther, suggesting that HarnessRacing Victoria and Australia’s other leadingharness racing bodies “sit down with theBetfair people, as he did, and hear what theyhad to say.” John Anderson, the chief executiveof Harness Racing Victoria, had a quickanswer to that. He said it will never happen.“We would never even entertain the thought ofmeeting and talking to Betfair. Frankly, I amstaggered by John Hammond’s personal view onthe whole issue.”JUDGE CLEARS PA SLOTSA United States District Judge has dismissed thelawsuit filed by a disgruntled applicant againstPennsylvania governor Ed Rendell and other legislators.Pittsburgh developer C. J. Betters, whowanted to build a thoroughbred track and racinoin Pittsburgh, had filed the suit, but the federaljudge tossed out the action on grounds that thestate and its top officials are immune from liability.The judge also dismissed the GamingControl Board from the suit.Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court upheld theconstitutionality of the slots law last month.August 2, 2005LOTTERIES FEELING A PINCHWith lotto sales in what the New York Post calls“free-fall -- down 22% through July 24 over thesame period last year,” speculation is that thegrowing popularity of VLTs are cutting sharplyinto Lotto, Mega Millions and keno-like QuickDraw, all of which are down from last year. Lottosales, for example, totaled $157.4 million thisyear thru three weeks of July, as opposed to$201.7 million in the same period last year. ThePost also said experts expect that “huge videogamingparlors planned for Yonkers and Aqueduct”will hurt Lotto and other games even more.Interestingly, scratch-off instant games havedone well, showing a 10.6% increase this yearover last. And no tears need be shed for the NewYork lottery overall, with sales up 5.3% over thesame period last year.In a related development, Informa Telecoms &Media’s latest report, Mobile Gambling, projectsthat form of gambling as poised to rocket fromcurrent annual revenue levels of $1.2 billion to$7.6 billion by 2010. The author of the report,Stuart Dredge, said that to reach that goal, operatorsand the companies that run mobile gamblingservices will have to negotiate legislative,technological and cultural hurdles. The reportsays Europe is likely to remain the largest marketfor mobile gambling, followed by Asia-Pacific,with North America described as “the great unknown”because of legislative and regulatory issues.ESTOK, WOLF, FLY HTA COLORSHTA chief counsel Paul Estok and former HTAexecutive assistant Maury Wolf spoke on legaland rebating issues in racing today at BennettLiebman’s Albany Law School symposium inSaratoga Springs, NY. The two appeared with EdMartin of RCI and Greg Avioli of the NTRA,the panel moderated by New York RacingBoard member Cheryl Buley.