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, EditorLAST CHANCE MOVES IN MD,FLTrack managements in Maryland and Florida, rebuffedby legislatures in those states, are takingfinal shots at changing the outcome and gettingslots.In Maryland, Dennis Mills, a vice chairman ofMagna Entertainment, met with Gov. Robert L.Ehrlich Jr. and Senate president Thomas V.Mike Miller -- both advocates of slots at tracks-- and appealed to the man who stopped slots,House Speaker Michael Busch. Busch skippedthe meeting, saying he had a prior commitment,in effect nullifying Mills’ trip to Maryland. TheBaltimore Sun reported that the governor andMiller emerged from the session saying they fearthat Magna will pull out of Maryland and takethe Preakness, the state’s biggest racing attraction,with them. Mills denied that his visit wasto make threats, but he did warn the leaders inAnnapolis that Magna shareholders were growingtired of losing money in Maryland. If Mills’visit was to encourage the governor to call aspecial session of the legislature, that seemsunlikely. The governor says he would like to doso, but won’t unless he, the Speaker and Senatepresident can agree on a bill. That possibilityseems remote, since Busch called the Mills’ visit“a big set-up.” He said the governor and Senatepresident were trying to blame someone elsefor the fact that they didn’t take the bill that theHouse had passed, which was unacceptable tothem. Mills said that Magna would have acceptedeither the House or Senate version.Mills was not the only supplicant for reconsiderationof the slots issue. The Maryland RacingCommission offered to meet with state politicalleaders to discuss the situation, calling it“very dire.” Speaker Busch had negativeviews on this, too, telling the WashingtonPost he wondered what took thecommission so long to express its opinions.May 16, 2005In Florida, the four tracks in Broward countywere preparing to play a longshot: going tocourt to force the legislature to act on the slotsissue that voters in the county have twice approved.Constitutional scholars were not supportingtheir bet. An amendment passed lastNovember requires the legislature to producerules and regulations for slots in Broward byJuly 1, but one constitutional law authority, DexterDouglass, put it about as bluntly as possible:“The legislature thumbed their nose at the Constitution,which is not unknown to this group.”Douglass agreed that in light of the default onthe part of the legislature, the only remedy wasfor the tracks to go to court and contend that itshould intercede and direct how slots should beimplemented. He added, however, that the courtcould say, “We can’t do anything. The Legislaturedidn’t do its duty, so vote them out of office.”Jon Mills, dean emeritus and professorat the University of Florida’s Levin School ofLaw, said that although the slots amendmentappears to require the legislature to act, “Weall know in a very real sense you can’t necessarilycompel such action.” Mills, a formerHouse speaker in Florida, did add that there issome precedent for the courts to intervene whena judge has been convinced that the legislaturefailed in its duty, and that courts have orderedlegislatures to act, but not very often.A THREAT IN MAINE, TOOThe Bangor Daily News in Maine, under a headlinereading, “Bid to repeal slot machines worriesPenn,” reports that a movement to repeal the November2003 vote authorizing slot machines coulddelay Penn National Gaming from beginning workon its permanent racino at Bangor Raceway. Thepaper says anti-gambling and church groups aregathering signatures in an effort to bring the issueto referendum, most likely in November of 2006,and that movement could push Penn Nationalconstruction back from 2006 to 2007.