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, EditorMonday, March 22, 2010CARDS FOR ROSECROFT?The Maryland Senate gave preliminary approvalto card games at Rosecroft Raceway last Friday,subject to approval by a voter-supported constitutionalamendment. The measure was supportedby Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller,and according to the Baltimore Sun “stirred abroad debate about enhancing gambling optionsin Maryland.” The state still is strugglingto get its slot machine program, approved twoyears ago, underway. A motion to expand thelocal Rosecroft card provision to Maryland’sfive slot machine locations, which do not includeRosecroft, was defeated. After some technicaladjustment this week, the proposal also will requirepassage by Maryland’s House of Delegates.During consideration of the Rosecroft bill in theSenate, the Budget and Taxation Committee effectivelykilled a proposal for table games at slotlocations by asking for a study as to how theywould affect gambling in the state.BIG A HORSEMEN STOP RACEMembers of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’sAssociation and thoroughbred breedersand their supporters, some 500 strong, stageda protest rally at Aqueduct racecourse on LongIsland yesterday, and the track’s first race wascancelled when trainers for six horses in therace did not bring the horses to the track securitybarn by an 8 a.m. deadline. The rally wascalled to protest nine years of inaction on a slotsprovider at Aqueduct, the latest delay comingafter the winning organization, the AqueductEntertainment Group, was declared unfit to receivethe rich reward. A horsemen’s release said,“There have been nine years of broken promises,regarding a video lottery terminal operation atAqueduct, which now threatens 35,000 jobs anda $2.4 billion industry in New York state.”Aqueduct’s state steward fined each ofthe six trainers involved in the boycott$500.GEITHNER KISSES KYL ON NETThe Washington Post, in a news item on pendingenforcement of the UIGEA, the UnlawfulInternet Gambling Enforcement Act, reportedrecently that a meeting between Treasury SecretaryTimothy Geithner and Arizona’s SenatorJon Kyl, the Senate Minority Whip, resulted inGeithner agreeing to no further delays in enforcementof UIGEA in return for Kyl releasingholds on six Democratic federal appointees. TheInternet ban was due for enforcement in December,but Treasury agreed at that time to a sixmonthhold until June 1. Rep. Barney Frank,sponsor of legislation to defuse the bill, has notyet had it marked up in his own House FinanceCommittee, and now has only two months to doso if Geithner keeps his promise to Kyl.USTA EXTENDS BROOKS’ STAYThe executive committee of the U. S. Trotting Association,meeting Saturday during the USTA’sannual board meeting in Columbus, continued itsstay on the suspension of owner Jeffrey Brooks,brother of David Brooks, owner of the incrediblysuccessful Bulletproof Stables. David Brookscurrently is on trial in federal court on Long Islandon fraud and other charges. USTA presidentPhil Langley, addressing the Jeffrey Brooksissue, said, “We have spent a great deal of timestudying this information and listening to our attorneys.Our decision is to continue the stay untilthey have a hearing in Canada, or somethingelse comes up in the case.” No hearing has yetbeen held in Canada, where the Brooks familysuspension began, with USTA following suit.ANOTHER ABUSE CASE IN NYShortly after the conviction on 33 counts of animalabuse involving thoroughbred trainer ErnieParagallo, 73 horses and more than 50 dogs andcats have been seized by SPCA officialsfrom a farm in Aurora, NY.