HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICA Executive Newsletter

HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICAExecutive NewsletterA daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyondStanley F. Bergstein, EditorFriday, June 25, 2010WELFARE SCAM IN CALIFORNIACalifornia governor Arnold Schwarzeneggerhas been jarred into ordering ATMmachines at casinos reconfigured afterthe Los Angeles Times revealed two daysago that welfare checks intended for subsistenceuse were being used to withdrawtaxpayer cash from a debit card programinitiated eight years ago. The total withdrawalsof cash from last October untillast month amounted to $1.8 million, anaverage of $227,392 a month. The governnor’saction included asking welfarereicipents to promise to use their cardsonly for subsistance purchases; orderinghis Department of Social Services, whichhad failed to spot the payments in sevenyears of supervision, to produce new oversightmeasures to reduce “waste, fraudand abuse; and told the vendor providingATMs to alter them to prohibit use of thewelfare cards at casino machines. Thestate-issued debit cards have been used towithdraw cash at more than half of thetribal casinos and state-licensed pokerrooms in California. Republican lawmakersalso are calling on state investigators totrack down people who misused the cardsand repay the money, the biggest longshotin racing in the state. One columnistcalled Schwarzenegger “naive,” asking,“When you give welfare recipients a debitcard that empowers them to make cashwithdrawals from ATMs..what did youexpect? That they would use themonly for bread, milk and eggs?AND A “BIG A” DISPUTE IN NYThe president of the New York Senate, Sen.John Sampson, a Brooklyn Democrat,is arguing that there was nothing wrongwith him providing bidding informationof five rivals to the now discredited formerwinner, Aqueduct Entertainment Group.He provided the information, without theknowledge of the other bidders and only tothe AEG. in time for AEG to up its bid bymore than $700,000 and win the contract,which was nullified after being foundfraught with irregularities. A Sampsonspokesman said, “We did not and do notbelieve the memo Sen. Sampson sharedwas confidential.” A Baruch universityprofessor, Doug Mazzio, was quoted byveteran NBC newscaster Gabe Pressmanas telling him, “You’ve got a real ethicsproblem in Albany, where there are foolsand knaves. The knaves don’t want thesetup to change.” Pressman said 2010does not look like the year for true ethicsreform, and asked, “We wonder when, ifever, it will come.”164 AMENDMENTS IN BOSTONMassachusetts state senators debatingexpanded gaming in the Bay State haveoffered 164 amendments to the measure.One of them approved yesterday by a 24-15 vote calls for no smoking to be allowedin the casinos. The Senate bill does notprovide for slots for HTA member PlainridgeRacetrack or for Suffolk Downs,as the approved House bill does.