2005 - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

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HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICAExecutive NewsletterA daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyondStanley F. Bergstein, EditorHTA MEMBERSHIP UP TO 41Four more tracks will be welcomed to HTA membershipat the annual meeting. Rejoining HTA areBatavia Downs in New York and Cal-Expo in California.New members are Western Fair Racewayin Ontario and Harrah’s Casino and Racetrack inPennsylvania. Joining HTA’s board of directorswill be Martin Basinait for Batavia, Chris Schickfor Cal-Expo, Hugh Mitchell for Western Fair, andAnne Allman for Harrah’s. We welcome all fourwarmly.NYRA SLOT SPLIT ANNOUNCEDSlots are still a long way off at Aqueduct Racetrack,but the New York Racing Association andits thoroughbred horsemen and breeders havereached a revenue-sharing agreement for whenthey do arrive. In the first three years of slotsoperation, horsemen will receive 7.5% of grossgaming revenues. In years 4 and 5, they willget 7.75%. And in the sixth year and afterwards,they will get 10%. They will dedicate $3.5 millionof their share annually, however, to capitalimprovements on the backstretch for as long asNYRA retains its franchise. The New YorkBreeding and Development Fund will get 1.25%of gross gaming revenue for the first five years,and 1.5% after that. All parties to the agreementexpressed satisfaction with the split, whichwill begin when 4,500 slots start operating at Aqueduct.THE PENNSYLVANIA MYSTERYHow and why the Pennsylvania Harness RacingCommission operates is a secret shared by thethree commissioners who constitute it, and to theexecutive director who runs it, but public relationsseemingly is not one of their concerns. Yesterday,after agonizing for more than two yearsover which of two applicants should receivethe final harness license in Pennsylvania,November 4, 2005they stunned everyone concerned by deciding togive it to neither. That decision, coming on theheels of the fiasco of a six-month suspension ofthe nation’s leading harness driver, and the quickrescinding of that penalty, would have seemedenough to make the commission conscious of publicrelations, but instead the commission made itsannouncement with little comment and no explanations.The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, among others,was mystified, reporting, “Commissioners refusedto explain their decision and said their rationalewould not be available until next week.” Onemight think that if a racing commission had finallymade up its mind on something after two years ofdeliberation, it would be able to announce its reasoningwhen it announced its decision. Not in Pennsylvania.LIFE & DEATH IN HOLLYWOODThere are things that are hard to believe in Californiaas well as Pennsylvania. One is HollywoodPark operating without a fall turf stakesschedule. The once-storied track, now in a threeyearlife-and-death cycle that could wind up withit becoming a housing or business complex underits new owner, the Bay Meadows Land Company,announced it was cutting back live racingdates from 31 to 27, without turf stakes. It cut11 of them worth $2.3 million as a result of nothaving a raceable turf course. With the cutback,overnight purses will increase between 12 and14%. In better news, the California RacingBoard heard from Norm Towne, representingCal-Expo, who said that even though handle andattendance dropped during the summer lead-inharness meeting to Cal-Expo, that summer harnessmeeting still was desirable, and the Cal-Expo board was considering adding a turf courseand 5-furlong dirt track to accommodate runnersand harness horses in afternoon and night racing,in the pattern proved workable byWoodbine.
HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICAExecutive NewsletterA daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyondStanley F. Bergstein, EditorBUCCI, POTTER GET 3 YEARSThe scheme to get more slot machines and stiflecompetition that was hatched four years ago byformer general manager Dan Bucci of LincolnPark in Rhode Island, and Nigel Potter, CEO ofthe track’s former owner, Wembley PLC of England,came to a sorry end Friday, when both weresentenced to a federal penitentiary by U.S. judgeMary Lisi. Bucci received three years and fivemonths as the instigator of the conspiracy, andPotter, the English CEO of the major gaming companyin Great Britain, was sentenced to threeyears. They are due to report to the court Nov.25. Faxes between the two men played a keyrole in the indictment on 22 counts in September,and Friday’s sentencing. In addition, Lincoln Parkwas fined $1.5 million for allowing the scheme totake place within the company. According to thetrial testimony, Bucci had suggested -- and Potterhad agreed -- to channel $4 million to RhodeIsland’s then speaker of the House, JohnHarwood, by disguising the money as merit bonusesto Harwood’s law partner, DanielMcKinnon, who has been a lawyer for LincolnPark for ten years. In return, it was hopedHarwood would use his political influence to getLincoln Park an additional 1,500 slot machines,and block efforts of the Narragansett Indian Tribeto build a competing casino. The bribe moneywas never paid, and Harwood and McKinnonwere not charged in the matter.November 7, 2005“These applicants have now spent several yearsand millions of dollars that has resulted in absolutelynothing for western Pennsylvania,” Veontold the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The commissiongave no explanation or rationale for its decisionwhen it was announced last Friday, saying awritten document would be issued in a week orso.BUSH CALLS SPECIAL SESSIONJeb Bush, that is, the other half of the family andthe governor of Florida. He has ordered state legislatorsto return to Tallahassee next month tooverhaul Florida’s $15 million Medicaid programand draft rules and regulations for Browardcounty’s four racinos. Although track executiveswere heartened, there is no reason for celebrationjust yet. Bush apparently still plans to call forNovember 2006, repeal of the legislation approvedby voters in Florida last November.NO JOY IN INDIANA, EITHERThe governor of Indiana, Mitch Daniels, has madeit clear again that he remains a stumbling block topassage of any legislation that would provide foralternative gaming at the state’s two tracks, HTAmembers Hoosier Park and Indiana Downs.Daniels’ press secretary, Jane Jankowski, saysno proposal to legalize pull tab machines or slotswill be part of Daniels’ agenda at next year’s legislativesession.PA COMMISSION UNDER FIREPennsylvania state representative Mike Veon,one of the architects of Pennsylvania’s racino law,has urged Gov. Ed Rendell to remove all threemembers of the Pennsylvania Harness RacingCommission. Veon was outraged by thecommission’s decision not to award a license t oeither Centaur Inc.’s Valley View Downsor the Schick family’s Bedford Downs inhis district.In southern Indiana, nature’s 2006 assault thatincludes hurricanes Katrina and Wilma continued,when a tornado killed 22 people and skipped acrossthe Ohio river to kill three horses and do majordamage at Ellis Park in Henderson, KY. An Ellistrainer, Larry Jones, said, “It’s wiped out a lot ofpeople’s lives as they know it.”In Wisconsin, a stable fire killed nine harnesshorses owned by Carol and Bob Yohn.
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2005 - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

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