‘A SAD NIGHT FOR MD RACING’
After last night’s Arundel County council meeting, slot machines have been approved at the Arundel Mills mall. With many voters feeling hoodwinked and the racing industry understandably upset, Tom Chuckas, president of the Maryland Jockey Club, called this ‘a sad night for Maryland racing’.
But Chuckas is not giving up, joining forces with Stop Slots at Arundel Mills in an effort to gather enough signatures to halt the zoning bill and put the issue before voters next year.
Read the full story here and then come back to the Paulick Report and let us know what you think.
Tags: Arundel County, Arundel Mills Mall, bradford cummings, Maryland Jockey Club, Paulick Report, Stop Slots at Arundel Mills, tom chuckas
December 22nd, 2009 at 9:20 am
Hard to understand Maryland’s thinking. The horse used to be one of the most important traditions and industries in Maryland. What or who turned the state against its former mascot?
BIG money associated with large scale gambling operations seemed to have blinded county, state and administration leaders, this after years of floundering under the mangement and stewardship of disliked past and present racing operators. Seems it was the right recipe for the current mess.
December 22nd, 2009 at 9:28 am
This is a sign of things to come. States are starting to figure out that they don’t need to prop up a dead racetrack to have slots. You can almost sense this same thing brewing in Kentucky. I do feel bad for my many friends at the MJC, I have worked for them on a contract basis. But, keep in mind, Magna screwing up the application process started all this.
December 22nd, 2009 at 9:52 am
Gave
I don’t understand the attitude of “propping up racing” The people that own that Mall will extract the same amounts of monies that the Race Tracks would have and the State would have many more entities paying taxes if Racing survived.
In my opinion Magna didn’t screw this up…there was no guarantee they would get their money back if they didn’t get the permit and lo a year later no one has one yet
December 22nd, 2009 at 9:53 am
Magna has been a major hinderance to this whole mess. Slots would have been at Laurel had they not tried to skirt the process put in place. The people who work on the backside and the owners are the biggest losers in this mess.
December 22nd, 2009 at 10:10 am
It’s not just about propping up the tracks; it is also about the breeding industry and many jobs. I guess the politicians are willing to sacrifice the current breeding industry in Maryland and its jobs for more revenue (if they don’t need to subsidize purses they can keep that money for some political handout). We cannot let this happen in Kentucky. David Williams must go. I have pretty much backed Republicans for most of my life. I will, however, be making campaign contributions to Democratic senatorial candidates throughout the state of Kentucky next fall. And I will vote Democratic in every state and local race that I can next fall. David Williams has caused me to become a one issue voter. And I realize I will be voting for people that I am completely opposed to politically. Thank you David Williams. I hope you read this blog and I hope you get the point before it is too late.
December 22nd, 2009 at 10:16 am
Great: One question. If racing at Laurel can survive with bigger purses, will they stay open knowing that a purse supplement is coming from the mall?
I’m on your side, I love racing and still make income from tracks being open. I’m also a realist. I appreciate the handouts that horsemen get at Presque Isle and Prairie Meadows and Zia Park and Delaware Park and……….But, the racing side isn’t what keeps those places open. They would all throw racing under the bus if given a chance. Laurel wants the slots to make a ton of money while the racing side of the business gushes money. This formula doesn’t work for the industry in the longrun. Look how Mountaineer is starting to modify, with success, their deal with the horsemen. They are trying to slowly wean racing out. It is time for horsemen like yourself, who are obviously very concerned, to start making progess towards fixing horseracing.
MD Owner: couldn’t agree more.
December 22nd, 2009 at 10:29 am
PS. Don’t get me wrong. I think it is a crime to give the permit to the mall and not Laurel. I was just saying, watch out, this could happen in Kentucky. Isn’t there language about “competitive bidding” floating around currently?
December 22nd, 2009 at 10:36 am
The leadership of the racetrack’s in MD never listened to the horsemen or people that really cared about racing. This battle was lost years ago …
Its a sad day …
Yet this is a good day for the women of MD — they will get their husbands back on Saturday afternoons … No racing means — more yardwork for the men of Laurel Park.
December 22nd, 2009 at 10:47 am
Raleigh Burroughs, the former editor of Turf and Sport Digest, was a staunch supporter of Thoroughbred racing in Maryland. His column “Around the Turf World” often told stories that reflected his pride in Maryland’s flourishing racing and breeding industry. Besides Pimlico and Laurel, there was racing at Bowie, Hagerstown, Marlboro and Timonium which provided a year around circuit. Maryland was home to Woodstock Farm and the great Kelso as well as Windfield Farm and arguably the best sire ever, Northern Dancer. But, people in high places have apparently forgotten that and Raleigh Burroughs is surely turning over in his grave.
December 22nd, 2009 at 10:47 am
Al - the Maryland you remember - a state that valued horses and tradition - doesn’t exist any more. MD politicians just want more money to squander on the social welfare programs that increase their power and they don’t care whether the money comes from a track or a mall. They don’t care about putting people out of work. In fact, the more poor people in the state, the better for the Democrats. They can hand out “extended benefits” and persuade the newly unemployed that Daddy Democrat is looking out for them.
As angry as I am about the bait and switch pulled on the voters her in MD, I never thought of slots as anything more than a short-term fix. Racing needs real reform, centralized marketing and management. Under its present structure, it is dying everywhere. Slots money may allow tracks to keep going a while longer, but won’t bring new fans to the track to see the horses. A day at the races is such a good time - but the only advertising I ever see here in the DC market is for Charlestown Races & Slots, and the only visuals used in those ads are of people playing the slot machines. The horses are an afterthought.
December 22nd, 2009 at 10:48 am
“The people who work on the backside and the owners are the biggest losers in this mess.”
Wrong! It won’t be easy for people but at least they will have a chance to do something else. None will be sent to slaughter.
CA will have a heck of a time filling its races with so many TBs trucked out of state by meatmen in the past two years.
It is time for horse racing to be run under one roof, as a corporation of sort in order to survive and vastly improve its reputation and business. Racing should offer much only short but well attended festive meetings racing healthier horses for bigger purses no longer wasted on cheap claiming races full of horses that shouldn’t run and couldn’t run without “therapeutic” drugs. Horse racing should only be offered during pleasant seasons at pleasant racetracks. Without the destructive abuse of therapeutic drugs and scummy claiming practices, with adequate equine protection and accident prevention, with order, uniformity, integrity and transparency, quality racing would have a chance to survive nationwide and even thrive as a sport.
December 22nd, 2009 at 10:50 am
First of all, Magna didn’t screw up. They did come up with the money and offered to put it in an escrow account — totally standard and acceptable among businesses. Unfortunately the people who wouldn’t accept the money in escrow were government people who know nothing about business.
Secondly, the tracks need to have the slots site –and there will only be one allowed in Anne Arundel County — as the operator receives 33% of the slots income. The tracks in Maryland need this maximum income to survive in the near future. If they do not receive the operator’s fee, a total of only 9% of the money will be distributed among the tracks, and I am not sure, but probably the breeders fund and the purses, as well. Everyone know that Pimlico is a shabby mess for our Preakness. But the Anne Arundel County Council doesn’t care. They don’t care about history, tradition and posterity.
I just sent Mr. Leopold, of the A.A. County Council the following email this morning:
I have previously written you with a list of reasons slots will bring more money a lot faster to the County and state if located at Laurel. Knowing full well that buyers who will install slots at Laurel are lined up to purchase the tracks, your Council has voted for the Arundel Mills site against the strong resistance of your local citizens groups.
Mr. Leopold, if you do not veto the Arundel Mills site, you are killing two birds with one stone. You destroy Laurel and Pimlico who, no matter who owns them, need the 33% operator’s fee to continue operating as race tracks in the near future, and you ruin the Council’s relationship with a large number of your local citizens.
Thank you for reading, Sincerely, Lynda Sasscer Hill
December 22nd, 2009 at 10:50 am
Sorry - paragraph 2, line 1 of my post above should be “here in MD”.
December 22nd, 2009 at 10:51 am
Feel free to send Mr. Leopold a love letter at: jleopold@aacounty.org
December 22nd, 2009 at 11:38 am
Wasn’t one of the reasons Magna didn’t pony up the slots fee was that they didn’t think they could make enough money under their agreement with DeFrancis when he sold them Pim and Laurel.
December 22nd, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Listen to you bunch of crybabies. Racing wasn’t murdered, it committed suicide. When all of the greedy, self-interested, jack-boots kept demanding a bigger slice of the betting handle, throwing crumbs back to the bettor, the demise of racing was virtually assured. You can’t remove 25% of the betting handle and expect to have a robust fan base. Most of the big players left. Small players, too.
Instead of improving the racing experience, the racing cognoscenti chose to hitch their wagon to the political welfare train. You’re getting what you deserve.
December 22nd, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Ditto what others have said about the need for racing to have more uniformity with rules, medication, etc. And while some levels of centralization would be beneficial to racing, I think we need to be careful when discussing the centralization of marketing functions. No central racing office is going to effectively present horse racing to the marketplace.
Tracks themselves are going to have to take it upon themselves to advertise and perform the necessary customer service functions that contribute to an effective marketing program. No central office can do that by themselves. A central body can assist with some promotion and advertising, but we cannot depend on a central office to effectively market horse racing. The tracks need to spearhead this.
Now, as has been mentioned in several threads on this blog in the past, nothing kills a poor product like effective promotion. Joe made a lot of good points in post #11, as have many others here and elsewhere. If the product we are offering is really that bad, then exactly how will slots help us out of this mess? (That said, I am still pro-slots. While it may only be a band-aid, I’ll take a band-aid over nothing at all.)
December 22nd, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Noelle—I completely agree with your comment. Slot machines are band-aid relief when major surgery is needed. The problem is that each organization in racing tries to protect their own turf without looking at “the big picture”. We have an organization like the NTRA which was intended to be our “league office”. But, instead of everyone rallying around the NTRA and supporting Thoroughbred racing and breeding as a whole, they put the blinkers on and take an extremely narrow-minded approach. How can we have anything but declining attendance and handle figures when racing has NO LEADERSHIP. They try to blame the state our economy, but MLB and NFL still play before sellout crowds.
December 22nd, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Good points by Bob and Noelle.
Is there still hope? Under MD’s law, the racing industry gets a cut of slots revenue whether or not the casino is co-located at the track. The Cordish Co. developed the hugely successful Hard Rock Casino w/ the Seminoles in FL and proved they know who to build a successful casino. The current track owner ruined a once-beautiful track w/ a tacky slots parlor and went bankrupt in the process.
So maybe a successful casino at the mall that provides ~$100M a year in purse subisidies is better than turning Laurel Park into just another depressing, soulless, lifeless slots parlor in which the racing product (and horseplayers) are clearly an afterthought. And maybe, just maybe, MJC can figure out what no one else has, and that is how to use slots subsidies to grow racing’s fan base & create new horseplayers.
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Picksburgh Phil is spot on. Until this gets fixed, we’ll continue to see this occur in more states until, eventually, horse racing ceases to exist.
December 23rd, 2009 at 11:58 am
Leave it to Magna to allow Chukkas to try & ruin the attempt for slots in MD. He stole from one harness track in Md, and helped ruin that end of the business and now has been brought in to do his best to ruin Thoroughbred racing.