Casinos Haven’t Helped Racing in New York
The following is a guest post from Dr. Ivan Zabilka, a research analyst for The Family Foundation of Kentucky and one of the most knowledgeable individuals in the state on attempts to expand gambling in the Commonwealth. Zabilka is a retired educator and historian. He has two theological degrees (M.Div. and Th.M.) from Asbury Theological Seminary and two degrees in U. S. History (M.A. and Ph.D.) from the University of Kentucky, with a specialty in the history of science. He has been an active opponent of gambling expansion since 1992 when he personally saw in his classroom the damage caused by gambling. He has three published books and numerous published articles in both history and about gambling.
New York Racing Woes
Perhaps casino gambling doesn’t solve all track problems. The New York Racing Authority has been teetering on the brink of bankruptcy for over three years. This week Charles Hayward, the NYRA Chairman, said that the racing season would end within three weeks at Belmont, that is, the day after the running of the Belmont Stakes the third leg of the Triple Crown. The New York City OTB system owes the NYRA $17 million, but the NYCOTBs are bankrupt as well. The NYRA was to receive bundles of cash from slots at Aqueduct. But the legislation passed in 2001 still has not been implemented nine years later, with no machine vendor approved.
Now the winners of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness are not running in the Belmont and predictions are that betting is going to tank there as well. Supposedly the state of New York promised to bail out the NYRA if they could not get regulations and vendors in place by April 2009. Today it was reported that the state will loan the NYRA $15 to $25 million to keep it afloat until Saratoga begins its meet in July. The NYRA will repay the loan with proceeds from the Aqueduct slots which are now scheduled to begin in August even though a vendor has not been selected.
The Kentucky legislators who have been resisting getting into the slots business at the tracks are looking smarter all the time. Churchill and Keeneland continue to prosper, while competitors continue to struggle. We can now watch and see how Florida fares with slots. The two Indiana tracks continue to hover near bankruptcy even with slots. Pennsylvania continues to be the only slots state that seems to have improving tracks. We shall see.
0 Comments posted by: Site Administrator on May 28th, 2010