BESHEAR READY TO FIGHT TO ‘SAVE THE HORSE INDUSTRY’
By Ray Paulick
Perhaps I was wrong about Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear when I wrote on Sunday that I didn’t think he would be able to demonstrate the kind of leadership necessary to help push through legislation allowing Kentucky racetracks to install slot machines and better compete with tracks in other states.
This afternoon, Beshear issued what for him was a tough and pointed statement on the subject. In so doing, he added a proposal for slots (technically they will be called Video Lottery Terminals and be run by the Kentucky Lottery Corporation) to the agenda for the special session of the legislature, to deal with the state’s budget crisis. The Democratic governor called for the session to begin June 15.
The Kentucky Equine Education Project applauded Beshear’s initiative, issuing the following statement: "We are extremely excited that the governor has chosen to include VLTs at racetracks on the special session agenda. His leadership on this initiative should be applauded by everyone involved in the signature industry of the state. We’re confident that he and most members of the House and Senate will shepherd this legislation through successful passage. It is critically important to level the competitive playing field with others states. This is exactly what is needed and at the exact time it is needed."
Click here to view Beshear’s official proclamation on the horse industry and the need for VLTs to assist it.
Following is the full press release issued by Beshear’s office:
Beshear: Gaming necessary to help save horse industry
VLTs would be limited to tracks, provide needed revenue
FRANKFORT, Ky. (June 4, 2009) – Saying Kentucky’s horse industry is threatened with extinction, Gov. Steve Beshear today added a proposal to this month’s special legislative session to allow expanded gaming at the state’s racetracks to increase purses and breeder incentives.
“Kentucky’s horse industry – a living, breathing part of our cultural heritage and one of our strongest, most precious commodities abroad – is in a state of crisis,” Gov. Beshear told reporters today in announcing his proposal. “Some even say it’s dying.”
Gov. Beshear said the proposal – which would limit Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs) to approved racetracks – would level the playing field for Kentucky’s horse industry, which has faced increasing competition from states that have increased race purses and breeder incentives from expanded gaming proceeds.
The result, he said, is that Kentucky is losing race dates at Churchill Downs; other tracks are facing closure and owners, breeders and jockeys are going elsewhere to board and race horses. About 100,000 jobs are connected with the horse industry in Kentucky, which translates into a $4 billion economic impact.
“Kentucky is, and remains, the horse capital of the world,” Gov. Beshear said. “But if we do not act, if we refuse to stand up for our signature industry, that title could be changed to Former Horse Capital of the World.
“As Governor, I cannot – and I will not – stand idly by and let that happen. Not without a fight. This proposal would allow thousands of working-class Kentuckians to continue to provide their families with a roof over their heads, food on their tables and the ability to send their kids to school.”
The Governor said his administration is continuing to work on draft legislation, which he hopes will be finalized in the coming days. He said it would contain details of how VLTs, which would be run through the Kentucky Lottery Corporation, would be taxed and generate revenue for both the state and industry.
Gov. Beshear said that while expanded gaming at the tracks would not impact the upcoming year’s budget, it would create recurring net revenues, which could help close the gap created when federal stimulus dollars are no longer available in two years. Such revenues would, undoubtedly, help with funding for schools, health care and public safety. Moreover, Gov. Beshear said, he believes the legislature can move forward with this proposal without a Constitutional amendment.
“The legislature, in our judgment, has the authority,” he said. “Now, we must determine if we have the will.”
Finally, Gov. Beshear said, that while he is willing to consider other ideas for helping one of Kentucky’s signature industries, it is time to make a decision on gaming, which has been the subject of intense debate for many years.
“Time is of the essence, and right now, this idea is the only one on the table,” he said. “It’s time to vote on it – up or down, with full knowledge of what is at stake and what is at risk … Political machinations and calculations are, frankly, not a part of my reasoning today. The unknown cannot be an excuse for timidity or inaction.
“Today, I am calling on legislators and the people of Kentucky to come forward and save the horse industry … before it is too late.”
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Tags: kentucky horse industry, kentucky legislature, kentucky lottery corporation, kentucky special session, Paulick Report, racino, Ray Paulick, Slot machines, steve beshear, video lottery terminals
June 4th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
None of Beshear’s enthusiasm is going to matter if he and Greg Stumbo can’t find some way to negotiate with David Williams (state senate). If it’s left to David Williams, it’s dead on arrival.
June 4th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
This should only be considered if it is not a windfall for the track owners at the expense of the taxpayers.
The Johnny-Come-Lately to the Kentucky horse business - Corey Johnsen - recently purchased a track on the Kentucky border outside of Nashville only because he wanted to sell sleazy slot machine gambling to the people of Nashville.
His interest in not in horse racing…in fact, he has cut the number of race dates at his track down to four this year. That’s right…four!
This Texas interloper has no right to a profit on slots. If the legislature thinks slots are necessary to save the racing industry, all of the money should go to taxpayers or horse purses.
Slot machines prey on elderly, mentally-ill, lonely and people on fixed incomes. They generate crime, job loss, suicide and many other social ills wherever they are installed. Kentucky is better than slot machines.
June 4th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Glad my future isn’t in the hands of a gov who looks like a taxidermist’s mistake.
June 4th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Slot machines prey on elderly, mentally-ill, lonely and people on fixed incomes. They generate crime, job loss, suicide and many other social ills wherever they are installed? Why stop there. Let’s blame slots on the war in Iraq, global warming, unwed mothers. Did I miss anyhing Billy. Oh yeah, my car wouldn’t start the other day. Darn slot machines again.
June 4th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
As long as real tracks, meaning ones that handle at least $250,000 a day are the only tracks to get them its fine. The other “tracks” don’t deserve a penny from the slots. While we are at it, anyone know how much of an interest Stumbo has in Thunder Ridge Raceway in Prestonsburg, there has to be a reason that a track that doesn’t handle more than $1,500 a day is still operating….
June 4th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Slot machines “prey” on people?! Wow I did not know they could walk. Those things must be pretty powerful. Honestly, people make a choice to go play the slots, the horses, or stay at home. Slot machines prey on no one, please!!
June 4th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Billy, maybe we should put up an iron curtain around the state of kentucky to keep people from leaving to to go places like Indiana or West Va to play slots and gamble their money. While we’re at it, lets shut down the lottery, tell the Catholics no more bingo, and have racing for the pure sport without betting windows. Oh and lets not forget to disconnect the internet so people can’t play poker.
Good grief. There are vices in every direction. You can’t regulate morality. This is an economic issue, not a moral one.
June 4th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Would remind all that we have our own Taliban - the Conservative Christian Coalition.
June 4th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Billy Crockett Says: “Slot machines prey on elderly, mentally-ill, lonely and people on fixed incomes. They generate crime, job loss, suicide and many other social ills wherever they are installed. Kentucky is better than slot machines.”
Slots generate crime? Are you kidding me? At least your name is right, what a “Crock” of crap you wrote…lol..
June 4th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
You can’t regulate morality. This is an economic issue, not a moral one.
&
Would remind all that we have our own Taliban - the Conservative Christian Coalition.
Pricless.
June 5th, 2009 at 1:53 am
Billy Crockett said: “Slot machines prey on elderly, mentally-ill, lonely and people on fixed incomes. They generate crime, job loss, suicide and many other social ills wherever they are installed.”
You’ve got to be kidding. My state has had riverboat gambling for years. I’m less than 10 miles from the boats. They have slots, and lots of them, and I’ve never seen the horrors of which you speak.
The boats and their evil slots have generated jobs and did not cause an increase in social ills. Our downtown area was dying until the boats opened. The tax and other revenue the boats generated financed it’s redevelopment. Now it’s thriving even in this tough economy.
And there’s not a bunch of suicidal crazy old poor people sitting around playing the slots because nobody will visit them in the nursing home. On the contrary, our boats are generally filled with young to middle aged people having a great time. And they’re far from poor.
June 5th, 2009 at 6:59 am
Okay…so it is the operators of the slot machines that prey on elderly, poor, mentally-challenged and lonely. Not the actual machines themselves.
Slot machines are not called the “crack cocaine” of the gambling business for no reason. The are operated with the sole purpose of addicting the customer and thereby creating a siphon to their wallet. And no Shamanka, if that is a real name, the slot players skew overwhelmingly elderly and lower income. Like the real “crack cocaine,” the social ills caused by slot machines where they have been legalized are real and staggering.
Since slots came to the Memphis, Tennessee in the early 90s, the area has seen skyrocketing bankruptcies, embezzlements, suicides, bank robberies and family breakups related to the gambling. In addition, hundreds of family-owned restaurants and other businesses have gone out of business because they cannot compete with the casino giveaways.
As State Senator Williams has pointed out in his dead-on analysis, it will take more than $4 billion of Kentuckians’ money to be put into these machines to generate a $60 million purse subsidy of which the legislature can provide through much more benign channels. The track owners are not interested in this though it would save the horse racing industry in Texas by itself.
No, the track owners want the slots so they can turn around and sell their tracks to gambling kingpins who have no interest in horse racing for hundreds of millions of dollars.
June 5th, 2009 at 7:23 am
I hate slot machines because it’s a mindless, skill stupefying, rigged form of gambling. A mindless stupid act akin to self abuse of the most personal type, it’s addictive for the wrong people and when Tonto and the rest of the casino owners put a gambling joint on every street corner in America, will have the eventual shelf life of dead fish. BUT that said, slots are a field leveling device and nothing more. Horse racing gets the financial equivalent of a tire patch. It doesn’t fix the fact, with the exception of places like Del Mar, Keeneland and Saratoga, there is too much racing of inferior product, too much of the time. For cripes sake, there are two competing television platforms that beam horse racing into my house virtually 24/7 and three online betting platforms. You don’t get that much basketball, golf, hockey or tennis on cable or regular tv, why horse racing? Even the financial juggernaut known as the NFL understands the danger of over exposing it’s product and limits tv exposure.
Most importantly what do we do after slots show up and racing is still run by the same old farts, with the same dedication to pissing off everyone like they always have. The states will still pack their racing commissions with the same tired old political hacks; they’ll remain ineffective and racing will find a new excuse to lose focus on the real problem of racing. That the tracks, as they are managed now, hate customers, hate horsemen and wish they could find a way to eliminate every employee. When is the horse industry going to turn on these clowns and hold them accountable for the destruction of a very viable sport product?
June 5th, 2009 at 8:56 am
Let’s all get together and contact our public officals and get something done for our industry, life is a gamble, breeding horses is a gamble, all three branches of our Commonwealth’s government are talking about the Horse industry. AS I quote, “If you can’t keep your ducks in a row, at least keep them out of the Road”, Lets get it done for our industry and our Commonwealth. WE are the Horse Capitol of the World, now and forever, lets all work together and get the help we badly need.
June 5th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Slots have ruined horse racing.