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, November 26, 2010ILLINOIS SLOTS VOTES NEXT?Illinois state Senator Terry Link, the Democratwho authored the slots-at-trackslegislation currently being discussed incommittee, has told northwest Chicago’sJournal-Topics that he expects the bill --SB 3970 -- to come out of committee nextTuesday and go to a vote of the full Senatethe same day or next Wednesday.The bill as being discussed includes up to1,200 slot machines and video poker devicesfor each of Illinois’ six tracks, andcircumvents local municipalities’ rightsto prohibit them. It also provides for fivecasinos in the state. The Journal-Topicsprovides local news to 13 heavily populatednorthwest suburbs of Chicago, fromArlington Heights to Wheeling.HARRAH’S PUBLIC OFFERINGThe public offering withdrawn by Harrah’slast week failed because of underpricingof value by potential investors,according to bloomberg.com. The newsservice reported that Harrah’s privateequity firms, Apollo Global Managementand TPG Capital, had been told by theirIPO advisers that potential investors valuedHarrah’s at $10 a share, or some $3.37billion, while Apollo and TPG valued itbetween $3.8 billion and $4.36 billion.Given those numbers, Harrah’s cancelledits IPO, becoming the 121st companythis year that planned to raise $46billion but withdrew the offers.A SUPER-SULKY IN NZ?Milton Bloomfield, a cycling engineer inChristchurch, New Zealand, working withan advisory team of prominent trainersand drivers, is close to finishing work ona new sulky design that has generated optimisticexcitement in New Zealand harnessracing, according to that country’sSouthland Times. It reports that the driver-trainerbrother combination of Anthonyand Tim Butt, along with trainerand brother-in-law Cran Dalgety, formerworld driving champion Mark Jones, andtrainer-driver Nigel McGrath have beenworking with Bloomfield on a new racebike that Andrew Butt hopes can be “halfthe cost, half the weight, and hopefullyfaster than an American-type sulky introducedrecently in New Zealand.” Bloomfieldhas designed new racing bicyclesused by New Zealand Olympians.RIVER DOWNS - $45 MILLIONPinnacle Entertainment, anticipating finalapproval of slots at Ohio racetracks,is buying River Downs south of Cincinnatifor $45 million. Pinnacle owns andoperates casinos in four states, and itspresident and CEO, Anthony Sanfilippo,says the latest track purchase “positionsPinnacle to benefit from the possible legalizationof VLTs at Ohio’s racetracksand, with the facility’s metropolitan Cincinnatilocation, we believe River Downsoffers an excellent complement to ournearby Belterra Resort in Indiana.”