Highlights of the Previous Week in Racing and Gaming

In Maryland, Penn National Gaming bought Rosecroft Raceway at auction for $10.25 million, and said it plans to restore harness racing to the Washington-area track this year and seek a change in law that would permit slots next year.  Peter Carlino, president and CEO of hard-charging Penn National, said in a talk with analysts and investors that he does believe slots help handle, but are an engine for purses and agricultural ends.  He said, “Some tracks with slots run the same old horses for two or three times as much money.  It does nothing to increase handle, and nothing will change that demographic.”  He said Penn National will be “tough and brutal on ratcheting down costs, because we have to.  We’re not running a public charity.”

In Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Trenton Times both challenged the governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, for his generous state help for a private undertaking in Atlantic City.  The Inquirer, in an editorial titled “Christie’s Casino,” and The Times, under a heading, “Revelry with taxpayers’ money,” criticized Christie for pumping $261 million of state money into finishing the multibillion dollar Revel hotel and casino, which has languished for two years for lack of financing.  The Inquirer said the Revel financing “prompts the question of why the governor is so willing to invest the state’s money in the casino industry while standing by as horse racing slowly moves out to pasture.”

Also in New Jersey, the legislature eagerly passed, and the governor signed, legislation permitting exchange betting, making the state the second behind California to legalize the product best known for its operation by Betfair.  Also signed into law was a bill providing for single pool betting, combining all wagers into bet types in a single pool.  Both are intended to spur more betting, but how Betfair will contribute to pari-mutuel racing remains to be seen.  It is still unknown if Christie will allow casino subsidy funds approved by the legislature in a defiant move  to be disbursed to the Meadowlands, Monmouth Park and Freehold Raceway. 

In Massachusetts, the Speaker of the House, Robert DeLeo, continues his determined fight for slots at HTA member Plainridge Racecourse and thoroughbred racing’s Suffolk Downs. Simulcasting at Suffolk, meanwhile, has been strangled by refusal of horsemen’s groups locally and elsewhere, including Gulfstream Park in Florida, to allow signals to be sent to the East Boston track.

In New York, new governor Andrew Cuomo has proposed a 2.75% surcharge on racing purses.  He says the move would close a $2 million annual shortfall in funding the state’s Racing and Wagering board, which currently gets $14.8 million for its operations.

Also in New York, Michael D. Kane has been named president and chief executive officer of Western Regional OTB, succeeding Martin Basinait, who is retiring Feb.28 after 30 years of successful operation of the Batavia-based operation.  Kane’s late father Robert was chairman of the board from 1976 to 2002. 

HTA member Capital OTB, meanwhile, is launching an ambitious sports talk show on its cable TV channel, with Albany-area coaches and sportswriters participating.

In Ohio, Penn National Gaming, fresh from its Rosecroft victory in Maryland, reportedly is seeking commission approval to move its Toledo Raceway operation to eastern Ohio, near Youngstown.

In Hawaii, a House committee heard testimony last week that could bring limited gambling to the islands. Hawaii is one of two states – Utah being the other – that has no form of legal gambling.

In Ontario, The Platinum Guy, driven by Simon Allard for trainer Marty Fine and his co-owners Dan and Norm Clements and Gary McCready, won the $60,000 final of the Count B pacing series.