NEW LOOK AQUEDUCT? A CHINESE RESTAURANT, EVENT CENTER AND SHOWGIRLS…OH MY
After Penn National and SL Green were disqualified from the Aqueduct bidding process, Genting New York stands alone. The American arm of an Asian conglomerate, their plans include a high end Chinese restaurant, a football-field-sized space for corporate events and a stage for showgirls. Not exactly your granddaddy’s Aqueduct…
Tags: aqueduct, Genting New York, Paulick Report, penn national, SL Green
July 12th, 2010 at 10:38 am
Asians can best worm their way into NY politics and win it all. It looks like racing would be buried under showgirls, casino gambling, tacky chandeliers, conventions and Chinese noodles. However, extracting the last drop out of worn-out horses racing in the dead of winter is awful and should be buried to improve the reputation of racing.
July 12th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
Slots are not the answer to racing’s problems. Nevertheless, it is a crime that VLTs were approved almost a decade ago, and half of the Big A remains boarded up from the aborted MGM project. For years now, everytime NYRA gets into a money issue, which is frequently, they are bailed out with moneys tied to projected VLT revenue. In the meantime, that revenue continues to be pushed further and further into the future.
As to the showgirls and Chinese restaurant–whatever. If that draws a crowd and makes money, fine. It won’t divert people from the racing side–the experience at other tracks seems to be that the slots crowd is not interested in racing and vice-versa.
Denigrating Asians is not really a smart approach. The fact is, Aqueduct sits in close range to pockets of some of the largest Asian populations outside of Asia, including old Chinatown in downtown Manhattan, and the blossoming Korean community in Flushing. While most tracks have had difficulty in enticing slots bettors to venture over to the racetrack side, with a targeted marketing effort, pehaps Aqueduct racing can make inroads into the NY Metropolitan Area’s Asian community.
July 12th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
Yeah, slot machines are the answer. No question about it.