HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICA Executive Newsletter

HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICAA.C. CASINOS DROPPING SIMOThe PressofAtlanticCity.com reports that theTropicana Casino and Resort is the latest AtlanticCity gambling site to drop simulcasting,announcing it was no longer profitable. Thenewspaper’s Web site says the casino closed itssmall operation January 15, letting 9 workersgo, saying it had become unprofitable last year.Although the Tropicana would not say howmuch money it lost, New Jersey Casino ControlCommission figures show gross revenue last yearwas $569,000, down from a high of $1.6 millionin 2000. Gross revenue is not profit, and doesnot include expenses of operation. Only 6 of 11casinos in Atlantic City now offer simulcasting,with the Atlantic City Hilton, Hilton Casino Resort,Resorts Atlantic City, and the Trump Plazaand Trump Marina Hotel Casino now also lackingsimulcasting facilities. Bally’s, Caesars, andHarrah’s Resort and Showboat, all Harrah’s operations,continue to operate simulcasting, butthe president of the group, Don Marrandino,told the Press it was “an amenitythat is part of the city’s overall gamblingExecutive NewsletterA daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyondStanley F. Bergstein, EditorWednesday, January 27, 2010SIMULCASTING MEETING SET experience” and not a big money-maker. Ironically,gross revenue at Atlantic City casinos wasThis year’s Simulcasting Conference, the 18thannual, will be held in Clearwater Beach, Florida,Monday thru Wednesday, September 20- to $4.9 million in 2008. The record year cameup sharply last year, to $7.2 million as compared22. HTA co-sponsors the conference with the in 1998, when gross revenue reached $12.5 million,but the total fell for four straight years fromThoroughbred Racing Associations, with theAmerican Greyhound Track Operators joining 2004 thru 2007. The city’s simulcasting leader isthe event. TRA has announced the location will the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa, which nearlybe the Sheraton Sand Key Resort, with a specialconference rate of $135 a night. The event its casino four years ago. Borgata’s gross rev-tripled its simulcast facility when it expandedends the day before the Little Brown Jug in Delaware,Ohio, enabling attendees to make both. year, with Bally’s second with $1.3 million. Jimenue from the operation was $2.7 million lastThe agenda, as usual, will cover simulcasting, Wortman, gaming director at the Conrad HiltonCollege of Hotel and Restaurant Manage-account wagering, wagering security and technology.The hotel is located on the shores of the ment at the University of Houston, commentingGulf of Mexico, a short drive from the Tampa on simulcasting at thoroughbred tracks, said,International Airport.“Most people in our current society are unwillingto spend 45 minutes at a racetrack waiting for a2-minute race and another 45 minutes waitingfor another. That’s why casinos put in simulcasting,to bring in races from across the countrywithout the waiting.” That figure seems unrealisticallyhigh for the runners, and totally irrelevantfor harness racing, with official-to-post 17minutes or so at most tracks. But Wortman says,“In this age of instant gratification, this generationof gamblers has gravitated to the fast-pacedslot machines and table games.”AROUND THE TRACKS....The Florida chapter of the U.S. Harness WritersAssociation will induct 95-year-old AIMECHOQUETTE, one of the sport’s most populartrainers during his days as Delvin Miller’strusted first lieutenant, into the Florida HarnessHall of Fame at its banquet March 7.....theCalifornia Harness Horsemen’s Association willpresent Hall of Fame honors to trainers FREDKUEBLER and BOB JOHNSON at their Marchbanquet, and present the association’s LifetimeAchievement Award to longtime owner andbreeder Billie Schwartz and her late husbandMichael.