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, EditorMAGNA SELLS THE MEADOWSMagna Entertainment has sold HTA member TheMeadows to Millennium Gaming Inc., which ispartnering in the deal with what The Deal.comcalls a “Los Angeles-based buyout shop,”Oaktree Capital Management LLC. Under termsof the agreement, the news source says MagnaEntertainment will continue to manage the trackfor at least five years for the new owners. Thesale is conditional on approval by the PennsylvaniaHarness Racing Commission and granting ofa Conditional Category 1 slot license. Magnaalso, through its Palm Meadows Estates whollyownedsubsidiary, has sold 157 acres of its excessreal estate in Palm Beach county, Florida,to Toll Brothers, a Pennsylvania real estate developmentcompany for aggregate considerationof $51 million in cash. Magna announced it hadcut its third quarter loss to $34.5 million, comparedto a loss of $50.3 million in the same quarterlast year. Revenue during the period fell12.4% to $83.2 million.In Maryland, meanwhile, where Magna controls theMaryland Jockey Club, the racing commission gavethe company, horsemen and breeders until Dec. 1to resolve expense-sharing issues, and until Dec.13 to agree on racing dates for next year. MJCCOO Lou Raffetto said he hoped “we can behavelike grown men and make a deal -- or the commissionwill step in and make one for us.” Alan Foreman,lawyer for the thoroughbred horsemen, saidhis group was ready to finalize an agreement ondates last Wednesday, but that it didn’t happen “onlywhen Magna introduced expense sharing” as anissue.GURAL WINS BIG IN VOTEIt doesn’t assure how the bankruptcy judge will rule,but more than 99% of Mid-State Raceway’s unsecuredcreditors voted for a Jeff Guraltakeover of Vernon Downs, with less than1% favoring the Eric Spector plan.November 9, 2005A “WHOA” FOR BETFAIRBetfair’s backdoor approach to Australia betting,through the nation’s smallest state or territory,Tasmania, hit a bump in the road yesterday. Afterthe premier, Paul Lennon, had approved the deal,the House of Assembly tabled the matter after theOpposition claimed that Lennon had accepted thehospitality of Kerry Packer’s PBL publishing andbroadcasting empire, calling his behavior “arrogantand inappropriate.” The charges said Lennonhad been entertained in the PBL marquee while atthe races in Melbourne and had stayed in thePacker-owned Crown Casino. The House outlined15 points on probity, including a prohibition forowners to bet any of their horses or greyhounds tolose, and a $1 million fine and four years in jail forcheating. The bill is due for debate later this week.A WIN AND A BOOSTIn the closest of possible photo finishes,Oaklawn Jockey Club won public approval yesterdayto install more “electronic games ofskill” at the track. Of 9,401 votes cast,Oaklawn won by 89. In West Memphis, votersapproved expanded electronic gaming forSouthland Greyhound Park with a 64% approvalvote. What “electronic games of skill”means will be determined by the Arkansas RacingCommission.In Kentucky, the lieutenant governor, StevePence, said that state legislators need to considerlegalizing casinos and warned that EllisPark may not survive its tornado damage withoutadditional gambling. He told the LouisvilleCourier-Journal in an interview initiated byhis office that the General Assembly “needs tobe willing to face the consequences that failingto expand gambling could have on Kentucky’shorse industry,” adding, “The consequencesmay very well be that we don’t have an EllisPark, that we don’t have those jobs, andthat we don’t have tourists coming in.”