SLOTS AT THE MALL…REALLY?
The Baltimore Sun, after running an online editorial supporting the Arundel Mills slots parlor, has come out this morning and officially spoken in favor of the idea. Simply stated, "Anyone who wants to help the horse racing industry — or keep taxes low in Anne Arundel County — should oppose the petition to block slots at Arundel Mills."
But a reader named David seems to have put it best. "It makes no sense at all to have slots at a mall."
We probably couldn’t have said it any better.
Take the opportunity to read the entire editorial here and then check back with the Paulick Report and let us know where you stand.
Tags: Arundel County, Arundel Mills, Baltimore Sun, bradford cummings, laurel park, Paulick Report
December 23rd, 2009 at 8:07 am
What a bunch of hooey that Baltimore Sun is full of.
December 23rd, 2009 at 8:36 am
The Baltimore Sun was behind David Cordish throughout the critical months and days leading up to the county council vote. There was NO objectivity or responsible reporting. It’s the people of Maryland that relied on the newspaper for the alleged facts, along with the horse world, that got bamboozled.
December 23rd, 2009 at 9:30 am
So tell me again why it makes more sense to put slots at an empty racetrack than to put slots at a mall where there are actually people.
The arrogant horse industry has never made a case for why slot machines have any natural connection with horse racing. In fact, there is far more crossover between slot machines and mall patrons than between slot machines and horse players.
Revenues from slot machines would make more sense and serve more public purpose propping up a dying automobile industry than a dying horse racing industry.
The horse industry in Kentucky committed suicide when it aligned itself with Obama and the socialists and against the interests and values of the people of Kentucky.
December 23rd, 2009 at 9:41 am
people go to a shopping mall to shop, people go to a racetrack to gamble and for the action. slots at an empty racetrack will fill the building with gamblers, not shoppers. shoppers should stay at the mall.
December 23rd, 2009 at 10:33 am
mainstream kentucky. You don’t shop at Arundel Mills Mall. I do. You don’t live in Maryland. I do. A casino is going to change the character of the very pleasant area where the mall is located in ways most locals oppose, regardless of what the Baltimore Sun says. I’m sure a really good investigative reporter could find out who Cordish paid off to get the Sun and our state government into his pocket. But where do you find a good investigative reporter these days, in a one-newspaper town?
A casino would fit in perfectly in the strip of Route 1 where Laurel Park is located - and where there’s PLENTY of traffic, I can assure you - even if little of it winds up at the track these days, which is all too easy to miss, given that the signage is completely inadequate, and that Laurel and Pimlico racing are NEVER advertised in the local market.
Marylanders like me who voted for slots did so with the understanding that the slots would go to Laurel Park and NOT in the mall. No, it wasn’t specifically in the bill and yes, we were snookered. But it’s not right.
December 23rd, 2009 at 11:00 am
For one thing….slots at racetracks means there isn’t an expansion of gambling. Racetracks can handle the crowds that slots bring. Do u really want to goto the mall and see slots? Wonderful. Soon we will have slots in gas stations and supermarkets just like in Vegas.
December 23rd, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Mainstream Kentucky,
The horse industry is far from arrogant in Kentucky. And I will bite, I live in Kentucky and I support the entire breeding and racing industry, I missed how the horse industry aligned itself with Obama and the socialists. Would you kindly elaborate for me please?
December 23rd, 2009 at 2:28 pm
The Sun editorial argues that the slots at the mall would still, pursuant to Maryland law, provide some money for purses. What the editorial leaves out is the very large slice of the slots revenue that goes to the operator of the slots facility. If that operator were Laurel Park, even acting through a contractor, there would se funds to fix up the track and the backstretch. With the slots at Arundel Mills, that money will go for shopping mall improvements and into Cordish’s pocket.
December 23rd, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Ray, the horse industry aligned itself with the Democrats and against the Republicans. While the Democrats in Kentucky may be slightly more moderate than Obama and his gang of czars, any effort to elect Democrats and defeat Republicans puts the Kentucky horse industry squarely in the corner with Obama, Reid and Pelosi.
You may think it is local but it is not. The makeup of the state house impacts redistricting next year which in turn impacts the composition of Congress in Washington. That is why Mitch McConnell became involved.
I warned several months ago that the Kentucky horse industry’s full-scale assault on Senator Williams was short-sighted and would backfire because Kentuckians care more about national issues such as runaway deficits, Obama’s War on Health Care and his ambivalence in the War on Terror than they do enriching a few already-wealthy race track owners.
As for arrogance in the horse industry, it exists in the fact that the industry supported a bill that did not direct money toward the causes that they claim justified the bill. Roughly 60 cents out of every dollar collected from slots would go to track owners while the rest would be split evenly between horse owners and taxpayers. Yet the horse industry sold the bill as if horse owners, breeders and taxpayers were the primary instead of distant secondary beneficiaries. This would be the most generous revenue split for track owners in the country.
The further arrogance was the unwillingness of track owners to commit to any meaningful expansion of racing opportunities in Kentucky, In fact, the out-of-state owners of Kentucky Downs wanted to operate 90 days of slots for every one day of horse racing. Put another way, for every one hour of live racing, they wanted more than 500 hours of slots. And they still had the gall to claim the bill was about benefitting horse racing.
The horse industry in Kentucky cannot declare open political war on the party whose values represent the majority of Kentuckians and expect to accomplish their legislative goals. This is what they did and this is why they are now in the political wilderness for as far as the eye can see.
December 23rd, 2009 at 5:30 pm
USURPERS…that’s all this mall trash is about. This is more bang the percieved arrogant race game and land owners/breeders of Maryland because the creeps that didn’t support racing or slots have hooked their slimey tushes on. More wrangling, battling and scraping for turf….and Stronach sunk us with his arrogance and fiscal incompetence. MD pols love this and one has to wonder; was this the end game all along? Looks that way to me.
The issue was brought to the MD public per referendum and won after YEARS of lobbying BY RACING INTERESTS. They don’t get any benefit? Is this lost on anyone??????
If I were a MD racing, breeding owner (MJC), I’d sue the state’s ever loving A** off.
December 23rd, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Mainstream Kentucky,
Thanks for your insight into the current state of affairs in Kentucky. Much of what you have written is correct. I think the arrogance you describe is in the hands of one or two race track operators and not the industry as a whole. I think the industry aligned itself with the democrats because the republicans refused (or more correctly David Williams refused) to give any slots bill a fair shake through the Kentucky Senate. David Williams has caused many industry folks to become single issue voters. I generally vote on the right side of things. However, David Williams has caused me to become a single issue voter. I will make financial contributions to Democrats running for KY Senate in 2010 and vote Democratic in all Kentucky State and local elections. I cannot sit idly by and let the horse industry die in Kentucky.
December 24th, 2009 at 5:59 am
Ray,
I most years, having a group of financial contributors and voters so uniformly aligned against the Republicans and for the Democrats - which is a historic shift - would tip the balance and make an impact.
These are not normal times. I believe the elections in 2010 and 2012 will mirror 1974 in terms of a landslide on the local level driven by events on the national level. People in Kentucky will literally come out of the hills to vote against Obama and his Democrats.
It is the wrong time for Kentucky horsemen to be in the wrong corner.
I accept your premise about “one or two track operators” versus all. Unfortunately, the enrichment factor of owning a slots license is so large that those “one or two” stand out like a sore thumb - particularly compared to their relatively small investment and history with racing in this state.
December 24th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Ray,
You can take the lead and bring this to its end game. You have the credibility.
Horsemen in Kentucky can win but they have to give Republicans a chance to let them win. If the only way horsemen win is if Republicans across the state lose, horsemen will not win. Horse politics is important to many but it does not trump all other politics.
You acknowledged there is some arrogance with “one or two” track operators. I agree. However, as long as their arrogance is manifest in the bill with them being wildly enriched at the expense of taxpayers and horsemen, the entire legislation is endangered.
There is no credible reason for including Kentucky Downs in the legislation. Four racing days a year is meaningless. The current Magna-affiliated, out-of-state owners purchased the property solely in order to be able to open a slot parlor one hour from Nashville. They have made no commitments for expanding into a traditional racing season or adding a dirt track even with the huge cash infusion a 365 day slots operation would bring.
Furthermore, these Texas-based owners already have a history in their own state of holding back progress for the industry as a whole in order to maximize their own financial gain - just as they are doing now in Kentucky.
The horse industry in Kentucky needs to police itself and clean up the bill by extracting Kentucky Downs and any other part of the legislation that enriches a few at the expense of the entire industry.
December 24th, 2009 at 11:17 am
this is what you get when people hide behind phoney USER NAMES…
December 24th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Mainstream Kentucky,
I feel like the Kentucky Republicans have had more than enough time to pass slots legislation. And while I agree that the timing is bad regarding national political issues it is now or never for the Kentucky horse industry. We need to save the horse industry here in the Blue Grass now. We can let the other states vote against the White House. Believe me Obama care is not the right thing for our country. But amazingly all we are getting from Obama is what he promised us. I know an awful lot of young voters helped to elect him and we are going to pay a huge price for their naive thinking. But a Kentucky without a thorughbred business is something I cannot accept.
December 24th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Mainstream,
I agree with you regarding Kentucky Downs in its present form being excluded from the slots legislation.
December 24th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Zorn says, “With the slots at Arundel Mills, that money will go for shopping mall improvements and into Cordish’s pocket.”
Cordish is putting up $300 million. The lyin’ cheatin’ horse thieves aren’t putting up anything. Why should any money go into their pocket?
Ray says, “I cannot sit idly by and let the horse industry die in Kentucky.”
With all due respect Ray, you are just a sycophant for those interests that caused the demise of the racing industry. The same horse thieves that have lobbied for onerous takeouts and other obstacles to increase the betting handle. There are currently two stories about disputes threatening the racing signal to various ADW and simulcast sites. Until racing removes the “we don’t serve bettors here” sign from their premises and price their product to compete with other gambling products, slots welfare won’t even be a temporary band-aid. The Australian model would be a good start. They have the tote, fixeds odds, and peer-to-peer. The lyin’, thievin’ horse poisoning cheaters in the US are stuck using a 19th century model. And you advocate giving them welfare. Pathetic.
December 24th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Any of the serious bidders for the Maryland Jockey Club assets would be willing to put up as much or more than Cordish to get the slots running, so the only “lyin’ cheatin horse thief” who refused to put up the money is Frank Stronach, which is exactly why we need someone else to win the auction for the MJC properties on Jan. 8th.
December 24th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Phil,
A sycophant I am not. I am just a plain vanilla horseplayer. I have been attending the races since I was 6. I am now well past 50. I look to influence and find favor with no one. As far as the takeout is concerned, you are right, it needs to be lowered. But as much as I can place blame on the tracks for many of the problems with my sport I can’t blame the tracks for the higher take. In general this blame must be placed clearly on the politicians. Maybe if we could somehow get the take dropped to 10% the players would return. It certainly might be easier to drop the take than to get a slots bill passed. It’s a shame that you dislike this sport so much. I would guess that at one time you enjoyed racing.
December 24th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Zorn,
What you write doesn’t add up. The narrative is that horse owners are so flat busted and down and out that they can’t even afford steroids or cobra venom anymore. That’s why they need slots welfare. Now, you claim that the horse interests are so flush that they would outbid Cordish. Which is it? If they are so flush, why not just invest that money into making racing attractive enough to thrive without slots? Lobbying for a 21st century business model and software should do it. I don’t understand the economics of taking the returns from a winning investment to subsidize a losing one. Obamanomics?
Ray,
I don’t dislike the sport of racing. My first day at the track was the 1973 Preakness.
December 24th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Ray…i knew he was a JOHNNYCOME LATELY & wannabee HANDICAPPER
December 26th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
I am not the enemy here. I am the customer. I’m telling all that will listen what is would take to bring racing into the 21st century.
Pari-Mutuel betting should disappear, or at least be supplemented with fixed odds and/or peer-to-peer. Pari-mutuel is the worst betting method ever devised. It’s a horse and buggy in a hybrid era. It’s from a period when Tyrannosaurus Rex and Eugene Levey roamed the planet. Without updating betting to fixed odds or peer-to-peer, there is just no possible way to increase attendance, and more importantly, betting handle. The younger, smarter, players, now mostly playing poker, will never put money into pari-mutuel pools. The bigger players, almost universally suspicious of the integrity of the pools, with the odds dropping halfway down the stretch, have long left pari-mutuels. (unless they’re doing the past-posting)
I understand that from the horse owner’s perspective that they just want the money. It doesn’t matter where it comes from, racing handle or slots, or if they earned it. In America, the new normal is that you just vote for someone else’s earnings. Cordish puts up the money, horse owners reap the benefits. Land of the Free, Home of the Subsidy.
The horse industry has two choices, jump on the welfare gravy train, or join the wired generation in the new millennium.
December 27th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Mr. PP:
As to MD slots, what is happening now is not what the voters voted for. I understand you don’t like slots, but it is not welfare perse…as to wired, I would think internet gambling off of horses through the mish-mash that is the current lack of regulation and gambling laws and the disjointed race game seems to be a currentl free-for-all. But I hope you are comforted that you get more back for yourself taking advantage of the current system (you bet where you get the least take-out, right?) v. a reasonable, uniformed system that serves the horses, jocks, owners, tracks, states AND bettors dispersed fairly. The problem is not just the industry’s. Disjointed regulatory authority, private enterprise in dispersed geographic locations with vulture politicians and internet savy opportunists are.
I’m happy you got your’s, sir….now, with the situation the way it is, just when will racing officially die? And playing poker has nothing to do with control and consistent, limited odds v. learning how to bet a horse race? They are both a skill and art, but hardly equal…toooo many variables in the race game. They play poker because it’s easier, sir.