FIGHTING FOR MARYLAND SLOTS AT LAUREL PARK
In an effort to fight for slots to be installed at Laurel Park instead of the proposed Arundel Mills Mall, the following email was sent to the Paulick Report this afternoon. Would this decision lead to the destruction of the Maryland racing industry or at least the closing of Laurel Park? We would like to hear your thoughts on the issue, especially from our friends in the Old Line State.
Additionally, if you feel called to do so, there is contact information for key legislators sitting on the Anne Arundel County Council.
Anne Arundel County Council vote is crucial to the future of Laurel Park, and probably Pimlico, too.
The Anne Arundel County Council is scheduled to vote on Monday, Dec. 21, on zoning for the Cordish Companies’ proposed slots site at Arundel Mills Mall, which means no slots at historical Laurel Park Race Track.
If the State of Maryland and its counties want to earn slots gambling money from lucrative Northern Virginia, Laurel is a far more accessible location to Virginians than Arundel Mills. It’s also closer to Washington, DC, and very close to Baltimore, as well.
Since Laurel, Maryland, is already a high density area and Anne Arundel Mills is not, more open space and farm land would be lost by the Anne Arundel Mills development. Additionally, I’ve been to Arundel Mills. It’s one of those discount shopping outlets in the middle of nowhere. Laurel has two major highways that access it — the Baltimore Washington Parkway, and I95.
Is it not obvious that if Laurel racetrack receives slot machines on site, Maryland racing will have access to far more money? Think concessions, whatever "management" or "leaseholder" fees go to the site. Capitol investment to build a better facility, a nice hotel and restaurants would, no doubt, be offered right and left.
And if your local Maryland horsemen and breeders don’t get more money from slots, Maryland farms will be sold as people move to more horse friendly states, like Pennsylvania. Serious losses will haunt Maryland’s breeding and racing industry — which, let’s not forget, along with the farms that grow horses, include hay farmers, feed sellers, veterinarians, tack shops, backstretch help, trainers, mushroom growers, and farriers, to name a few.
I’d like to think the quest for state dollars isn’t far more important to the Anne Arundel Country Council than posterity, and Maryland history.
The vote is expected to be a close one.
It is important for County Council members to hear from people in the Maryland breeding and racing industry. Also, anyone interested in conserving green space, farmland, and those people who simply love horses and racing, please contact these legislators!
PS: Why can’t a horseman from Kentucky or Florida who has been to Maryland races, or run their horses in Maryland contact these county council members? It’s your sport, too.
Following are e-mail addresses for Council members expected to vote on the zoning:
- Daryl Jones – District 1, daryl.jones@aacounty.org
- Ronald C. Dillon – District 3, rdillon@aacounty.org
- G. James Benoit – District 4, james.benoit@aacounty.org
- Cathleen M. Vitale – District 5, cvitale@aacounty.org
- Tricia L. Johnson – District 7, tricia.johnson@aacounty.org
Tags: Anne Arundel County, Arundel Mills Mall, Cordish Company, laurel park, Paulick Report
December 15th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
As politics goes, this proposal has got to have some pretty incredible donors fronting for developers and pushing things through well-connected lobbyists. I have heard it all…slots in a shopping mall. If this plan has an insider’s advantage, the racing industry has been outmaneuvered with no fall-back plan. And it will be a case where elected officials turn deaf ears on horse racing in the deep stretch, because they have heard that the sky is about to fall for too many years.
December 15th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
The final round of the bankruptcy court auction will be held on January 8th. The zoning decision in Anne Arundel county has waited this long, so why not see what bidder ends up with the Laurel Park site and what their plans may be before deciding whether to allow a slots parlor be built at a shopping mall, or more responsibly placed at the racetrack? The racetrack operator (presumably it is not Magna Entertainment again), will require operating profits from the slot business to restablish the parimutual and racing side of the Maryland Jockey Club asset acquisition. Sure purses get a piece regardless of where the facilites in the state are located, but unless the racetrack operator can stay in business and generate profits, what’s the difference how much money is in the purses pot? In order to take advantage of the Capital Project setaside provision in Maryland, a racetrack operator needs to spend $1 on improvements in order to get $1 from the fund. If they have no extra profit laying around that can be reinvested back in the joint racing/gaming buisiness, what difference does it make how much money accumulates in this account if none of it will ever be used because the racetrack operators aren’t making any real investment money without the power of the slots business?
If the slots go to the shopping mall location, forget about any resurrection of horse racing or breeding. It will be the death of the “industry” as there with just a boutique meet in and around the Preakness Stakes, a traditional event that the state intends to protect.
As an industry participant, horse racing fan, and observor of what was supposed to be a well considered program to rejuvenate such an important economic engine in Maryland as the horse industry, I am just baffled how we ever got to where we are today in this debate? I would hope the entire Anne Arundel County Council and County Executive John Leopold, rewind the clock and remember why the correct zoning decision is so important, along with a complete understanding of the ramifications of not having slots and racing sharing in the same potential profit streams. My guess is ultimately, when politics are placed aside, reasonable business judgment will lead them to making a sound determination for the taxpayers, education in the state and the originanally intended patient; our horses, farms and livelihoods.
December 15th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
The Anne Arundel council will vote for what it views as the county’s best interest. I’d have a hard time suggesting that the Council seriously consider the larger interest in preserving the racing industry and green spaces. Did Stronach ever think of anything but his own interests? My hope is that a new owner takes control of Laurel and Pimlico and sell the Pimlico fire trap. My concern is that Stronach somewhow will regin control from a bankruptcy hearing.
December 15th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Anne Arundel County is a very nice place to live, including the area around the Mall. I wouldn’t change it, certainly not by introducing a slots parlor into a family-oriented area.
When Maryland residents - myself included - voted yes on slots, we all understood the slots would be going to Laurel and NOT TO A SHOPPING MALL. Like Richard Coreno and Al, I just don’t get it. How did this happen?
I blame Governor O’Malley and the Democrats who have controlled the state legislature for years. And Stronach, of course. What an unholy mess.
December 15th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Here is one of the nuances of Anne Arundel considering a slots parlor at the shopping mall. In the maryland slots legislation there is a provision for a “local impact” fee to be paid to the local host municipality of the slots facility and surrounding municipalites if within a certain distance. It is meant to pay for addditional enmergency services, police, road work, etc. all the things that come with “hosting” a large gaming establishment. Because of the location and of the Anne Arundel Mills Mall proposed site, upon full operation of the 4,750 slots machines at the parlor, the county would receive $23 million in local impact fees per year. If the business was located at Laurel Park racetrack, Anne Arundel County would receive $16 million in local impact fees with the balance of $7 million split between Howard County, Prince George’s County and the City of Laurel based on the geographic considerations spelled out in the legislation.
In a nutshell, it appears that Anne Arundel County is not interested in sharing the local impact fees with municiaplities in close proximity to the slots, therefore, somebody was keen enough to have figured this out and proposed the Anne Arundel Mall as a place where the county got all the fees; no sharing. So, this vote in Anne Arundel may have nothing to do with saving horses or maximizing state dollars in the best facility location possible, but it may have everything to do with a county with a huge carried defecit looking to maximize its benefit.
Not what the doctor ordered.
December 15th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Al, you are so right about the money. The sharing of gambling dollars is the coffin nail for slots gambling at Laurel Park, I fear. I know the bottom line is always money, and I’m so sick of it.
If the current administration can happily spend trillions of dollars of tax payers money, why would I hope that a county council in my home state would rise to a higher level?
I have been following and blogging on the slow death of Maryland racing for a long time, as one unlikely event after another occurs. It is very disheartening. I have, of course written every single council member. You people that commented above wrote thoughtful and intelligent comments. Please write to the council members!
Lynda Sasscer Hill
http://sasscerhill.blogspot.com/
December 15th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
If all of the pathetic, whiney, welfare queens that make up the racing industry would have spent as much time and money lobbying for reducing the takeout (starting with the state’s portion), lowering prices, and allowing fixed odds bookmaking or peer-to-peer, they wouldn’t need slots to survive. The increase in business, by drawing the big players and new younger players, would allow racing to be self supporting. The industry is both selling itself short and treading dangerous waters by becoming dependant on slots and the fickle whims of politics to survive.
December 15th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Having watched this scenario play out in NM, AZ, and TX with very different results…. I can say that it may be a hard sell….. I would sure hate to see the Stronach cartel retain any interest at all, since they have proven repeatedly to be stubborn and ignorant when it comes to what is good for live racing.
December 15th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
I’ve heard through the ‘vine’ that Penn National may be a bidder. Please tell me that MD Racing will not end up looking like Charlestown and the Hollywood Casino at Penn Nationa Race Course. Uggh.
December 15th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
I MADE MY BASE AT LAUREL STARTING BACK IN 1959.I WAS IN THE FIRST BARN ON THE LEFT INSIDE THE GATE…WELL NOW EVERTHING IS CHANGED..SOME OF THE GREATEST HORSES CAME FROM ALL OVER AS MOST OF YOU NICE PEOPLE KNOW.
I HOPE JOE & HIS SISTER GET LAUREL back that his partner ruined..HE WOULD’NT MAKE THAT MISTAKE AGAIN…I USED TO HAVE HORSES FOR HIS FATHER WHO WAS A 1ST CLASS FELLOW.IF YOU REMEMBER, THEY NAMED A RACE AFTER HIM
“THE FRANK De FRANCIS G1 I CANT SEE HOW THAT MALL HAS ANY CHANCE OF GETTING SLOTS…
December 15th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
A slots parlor in a shopping mall, is a massage parlor next?
December 15th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Linda Saccer Hill, I wrote to all of them too, much good is it likely to do if they’re as oblivious to their constituents as most politicians when money is waved in their faces.
Instead of grabbing at local impact fees the Anne Arundel County Council ought to be considering local impact. The proposed gambling complex will trash the quality of life in neighborhoods around the Mall and it emphatically is NOT what the people who bought homes there could have anticipated, given that rezoning is required to allow this sort of development.
What is most infuriating is that without the goal of saving the tracks, slots would never, ever have been on the ballot, let alone approved by the voters. This is NOT what we signed up for.
December 16th, 2009 at 8:46 am
Noelle said: “What is most infuriating is that without the goal of saving the tracks, slots would never, ever have been on the ballot, let alone approved by the voters. This is NOT what we signed up for.”
Is that the truth! WTH happened?!?! The money spent to lobby by the MJC and others, battling for years just to get it on the ballot, winning and then we are talking stinking outlet mall?!?! WTH is going on with these weasel MD bureaucrats?
As far as I’m concerned, AA county pols shouldn’t have a say in this as it was penned, lobbyed and voted on as a state wide issue. Why do they get to suck up the hard fought battle spoils of the racing industry? Mind boggling. Shame on the state house and the governor and Stronach (mostly for greed and arrogance).
December 17th, 2009 at 7:49 am
Please, keep up the good work and continue to post topics like this. I am really fan of your site.
December 17th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Since it’s all about money, here are three new considerations as to why it would BENEFIT Anne Arundel county for slots to go to Laurel:
The planned ICC (Inter-County Connecter highway) starts in Gaithersburg and ends where? In Laurel. I realize it’s a long term project, but can we look to the future and see the staggering benefits this will provide for state gambling income at Laurel Park?
Politicians say they are for smart growth. How much smarter is it to put slots at Laurel, an already heavily developed area with two major highways, than a much more open, isolated area like Arundel Mills?
There is a train stop at Laurel Racetrack that is currently in use to bring racing fans to Laurel. Need I say more?
December 17th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
>>>>>>PERFECT<<<<<<<
December 17th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
I UNDERSTAND THAT AT 7:00 TONITE IT WAS REPORTED THAT THERE WILL BE A PROTEST AT LAUREL ON THE 19TH TO FAVOR SLOTS AT THAT TRACK…
December 18th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Yes, Eugene, you are right. Unfortunately, there is a heavy snow predicted for the Washington Metropolitan area tomorrow. I think letters, tons of them, to the AA county council letting them know why slots at Laurel, an not Anne Arundel Mills, will BENEFIT them would go way farther in persuading them then a rally would, anyway. For verbal weaponry and email addresses go here:
http://sasscerhill.blogspot.com/
Bless any and all who take the time to send an email! Lynda Sasscer Hill
December 18th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
The beauty of Maryland politics…the ICC was to be a necessary and much needed route at the cost of destroying many farms and houses (rural properties). OK…I get it. But now the ICC may very well turn into a toll road. Sorry, but I don’t think that’s what Marylanders signed on to…AGAIN. This just gets screwyer and screwyer. Slots were voted on as a track/racing issue with some revenue for the state. I’m tired of self-serving trolls on the politico dole. I wish the folks the best on the 19th. They would be better served to muster on the 20th…sun, etc.
December 18th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
JUST REPORTED>>>>>>PIMLICO & LAUREL CLOSED TOMORROW >SATURDAY AS THEY EXPECT 10-15 INCHES OF MORE SNOW