Tough times at Lebanon track
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From The Cincinnati Enquirer
Tough times at Lebanon track
By Elaine Trumpey
February 16, 2008
LEBANON -- Times are getting tougher for the Lebanon Raceway, a Warren County icon where trotters have raced for years.
The “handle,” or amount wagered at the track, has shown a steady decline from $49 million in 2003 to $42 million in 2006 to about $36 million last year.
In many ways, Lebanon Raceway is suffering the same downward spiral that Ohio’s other six horse racing tracks are seeing, said Mel Hagemeyer, director of operations at the Warren County track.
Online betting enables people to stay at home and bet from their living rooms. Soon, casino gambling will take root at race tracks in central Indiana, now that the state legislature has approved expanded gambling operations at tracks there, horse racing industry experts say.
Statewide, total wagers, including off-track betting and wagers on races simulcast from other cities, amounted to $372 million 2007, down $58 million, or 13 percent, compared to 2006, according to figures supplied by the Ohio State Racing Commission. Wagering is down nearly 41 percent since 1998, when wagers hit $629 million.
“The Ohio racing industry is standing on quicksand,” said Elisabeth Alexander, president of Ohio Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners. “It’s crucial that something happen in the next year to give us the tools to compete with neighboring states.”
The fate of the Lebanon Raceway is of special concern to Warren County. The county owns the fairgrounds where the track and grandstand sit, and a percentage of the handle from the racetrack has basically paid for the annual Warren County Fair since 1948.
That’s the year the Fair Board, also known as the Warren County Agricultural Society, signed a lease with two horse-racing organizations, Miami Valley Trotting Inc. and the Lebanon Trotting Club. That lease has automatically renewed every year since.
Now, as the racetrack’s numbers dwindle, county commissioners pay closer attention to the business arrangements. Commissioners say they need to convert years of traditional, but mostly unwritten arrangements, into a formal written contract with the Fair Board, which oversees the fairgrounds, the racetrack and other special events.
In recent years, the racetrack has generated about $100,000 a year for the county fair. But with declining revenues, the racetrack funding might not be enough to support the fair.
As things get tight, the county wants to spell out the fair board’s obligations to the county.
A new lease between the county and the fair board is expected to be ready for signatures by the end of the month. That deal would not affect an existing contract between the Fair Board and the two racing entities.
Another reason for seeking a new lease: County officials want to be prepared if the state legislature ever approves other gambling options at Ohio racetracks.
The Ohio horse racing industry for years has wanted to add slot machines and other gambling options at local tracks. But in 2006, voters defeated a statewide ballot issue that would have allowed slot machines at all Ohio racetracks, including the Lebanon track and River Downs thoroughbred track in Anderson Township.
Before the issue comes up again, commissioners want a lease in place that requires local government approval before any expansion of gambling can occur at the fairgrounds.
“We want to support a local industry,” said Commissioner Dave Young. He said commissioners also want to ensure they control county assets.
The Fair Board has been responsible for staging the Warren County Fair each summer since 1850. The first fair took place at a site on East Main Street in Lebanon. Two years later, the Warren County Fairgrounds on North Broadway Street became the permanent site for the annual summer tradition.
The fair opened with a single wooden grandstand on five acres. Today, the facility takes up 57 acres and has 26 buildings. Fifteen of those buildings generate as much as $400,000 in annual stall rent to the Fair Board, said Hagemeyer, a board member.
Many of those stalls are occupied by the trotters.
Lebanon Raceway hosts live harness racing on Friday and Saturday nights, October through May, and for a few days during fair week. Inside the grandstand, the track also simulcasts horse races from other tracks all year.
County officials are increasingly concerned about what would happen if the racetrack closes or looks to move. Increased casino-style gambling at horse tracks in neighboring states is resulting in larger purses that are beginning to lure away Ohio-based jockeys, drivers and horse owners, industry experts say.
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Tough times at Lebanon track (continued)
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Legislatures in neighboring Indiana, West Virginia and Pennsylvania now allow slots or other gaming activities at their racetracks.
An “Indiana Live” casino is under construction at Indiana Downs, a thoroughbred and quarter horse track along Interstate 74, near Indianapolis. About 1,000 slot machines will be in play when a portion of the casino opens, possibly this summer.
The West Virginia legislature approved a bill last year that permits blackjack, poker, craps and roulette and other games at four racetracks there.
Revenues from 2,000 slot machines at the year-old Presque Isle Downs and Casino in Erie, Penn., have dramatically increased the purses for winning thoroughbreds. Horse owners and jockeys can win $45,000 in races that pay less than $10,000 at Thistledown in Ohio, just 110 miles to the west, said Alexander.
Kentucky has a far bigger racing industry yet also does not allow casino-style gambling at horse tracks. An intense debate is going on about this issue. Just this week, Kentucky’s governor announced a proposal calling for 12 casinos to be scattered statewide, including two in Northern Kentucky.
While the Lebanon racetrack, the fair board and the county commissioners work out the paperwork at the local level, all say the future of horse racing in Ohio depends on state lawmakers and voters who will ultimately decide whether to allow casino gambling and where.
Until a decision is made, Ohio horse tracks will likely continue to lose participants to tracks in other states that have casino-style gambling because those places can afford to offer bigger purses. Gradually, Ohio is losing harness drivers, thoroughbred jockeys, trainers and owners, all of whom are lured by the chance of bigger winnings elsewhere, said Stella Hagemeyer, 86, who has been associated with horse racing in Ohio for 41 years.
Racing runs in the family. Mel Hagemeyer is her son. Stella’s husband, Maynard, 89, served on the Fair Board for 42 years. Together, they run Hagemeyer Farms, a breeding and training facility in Washington Township.
Breeding facilities also are affected by the downturn in horse racing in Ohio, she said.
Horses that race in Ohio have to be bred in Ohio. Yet these days, most studs are registered in Pennsylvania and the foals follow the registered blood line of the stallion, even if the mare is registered in Ohio.
Jack Dailey, 43, a trainer and driver from the Xenia area, says he cannot wait for a political solution. He plans to head to Indiana as soon as the season opens there.
“I can’t stay in Ohio and make a living,” Dailey said
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With millions at stake, how to expand region's gambling?
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A split pot?
With millions at stake, how to expand region's gambling?
BY ALEXANDER COOLIDGE | ACOOLIDGE@ENQUIRER.COM
Even if Kentucky legislators pass Gov. Steve Beshear's gambling plan and voters approve it in the fall, analysts are skeptical the region can support two casinos in Northern Kentucky.
The analysts also question whether Beshear's plan, which would allow as many as 12 casinos across the Bluegrass State, would meet projections of $1.5 billion a year in business and an estimated $600 million a year in taxes.
Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana could become the No. 8 gambling destination in the U.S. behind St. Louis if one casino were built in Northern Kentucky, according to industry analyst estimates.
Adding a fourth casino to the region at Turfway Park in Florence could propel the area's casino revenues to as much as $1.2 billion by 2010 - an increase of 50 percent from 2007. The region's three riverboat casinos in Southeast Indiana are already a nearly $800 million market - the nation's 12th largest.
Experts say crucial measures of the local gambling market show the market is underserved and could support one more casino.
The Indiana boats are "probably not serving all their potential customers - there's a capacity issue," said Steve Gallaway, president of Denver-based Gaming Market Advisors.
Beshear's plan would immediately allow casinos at Kentucky's horse tracks, using slot and table games, to boost purses offered at their races.
Turfway, partly owned by Las Vegas-based casino giant Harrah's Entertainment, has long had a roughly $250 million casino planned at the track, if Kentucky ever legalized casinos. Turfway president Bob Elliston said the plans call for at least 2,500 slot machines plus table games that would do roughly $400 million to $450 million in annual revenue.
Elliston has stressed throughout the debate that Northern Kentucky has room for only one casino - and that it should be built at Turfway.
But in addition to a casino at Turfway that would bring in $90 million in taxes, Beshear has proposed allowing - subject to a local vote - another casino in Kenton or Campbell counties.
The analysts say subjecting the licenses to local voting could trip up developers. They point to Pennsylvania as proof.
In 2004, the Keystone State approved slots at seven racetracks and in eight free-standing locations. The sixth racetrack opened its racino operations Tuesday. But in more than three years, no stand-alone casino has won local approval. "It's been a political debacle," Gallaway said.
Another problem for a second Northern Kentucky casino is that Penn National is already betting big on growing its revenue at Argosy Casino and Resort in nearby Lawrenceburg, Ind. A $310 million expansion under way suggests the Reading, Pa.-based company thinks it can grow its nearly $500 million casino into a $600 million to $700 million gambling destination. Argosy is Penn National's second-busiest and its most profitable casino.
"Argosy is ... going to be tough to pry business away from," said Dennis Forst, an analyst with KeyBanc Capital Markets in New York.
To be sure, Argosy and the two other Southeast Indiana boats would be hurt for a time if casinos opened in Kentucky.
"We're beginning to see cannibalization," said Nick Danna, an analyst with Sterne, Agee and Leech in New Orleans. "Existing casinos see a decline but overall markets increase."
The reason? Gambling is now so widespread across America that new casinos hurt business at existing ones - something that wasn't true a decade ago, when casinos were allowed in fewer states.
If a second Northern Kentucky casino is built, developers, gambling companies and market studies conducted by the state point to the Ohio River in Newport and Covington as the most likely locations.
Potential players in a second Northern Kentucky casino are: Jerry Carroll, chairman of Kentucky Speedway and a real estate developer, who has scouted Northern Kentucky for sites. Bill Yung III, chief executive of Crescent Springs hotelier Columbia Sussex and its embattled casino affiliate Tropicana Entertainment, who has suggested a casino operation at the old Jillian's restaurant in Covington. Bill Butler, chief executive of Corporex Cos, who controls the Ovation, a planned mixed-used development in Newport at the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers.
Beshear's plan projects a casino in Kenton or Campbell counties would be larger than the one at Turfway, annually generating $316.5 million in revenue and $160.3 million in taxes.
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With Millions at Stake (continued)
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Yet if two Northern Kentucky casinos came online, it would make this region a $1.5 billion to $1.6 billion market - about the size of Detroit, which has a regional population of 5.4 million - twice the size of our region.
Even without a bigger Argosy, Gallaway said nearly doubling the local market to $1.5 billion in gambling revenues seems "aggressive."
Alexander Coolidge is an Enquirer Business reporter. E-mail him at acoolidge@enquirer.com. Staff writer Patrick Crowley contributed to this report.
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Kentucky may get up to 12 casinos
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By Gregory A. Hall
ghall@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Gov. Steve Beshear unveiled his long-awaited plan for expanded gambling yesterday, proposing up to 12 casinos that could generate as much as $600 million a year in revenue for the state. Beshear said the state needs casino gambling to work its way out of the "financial quagmire" that plagues it. And he said it will allow Kentucky to compete with neighboring states that have made hundreds of millions of dollars from casinos.
"I am proposing that we get off the fence one way or the other because other states are leaving us behind," he said at a news conference.
His announcement opened what almost certainly will be the most divisive battle of this legislative session. And it brought immediate criticism. "It's not going to pass the House, and it's surely not going to pass the Senate," said Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville.
Still, with the support of a first-year Democratic governor who made it a centerpiece of his campaign, casino gambling has its best chance of success after falling by the wayside in previous sessions.
Beshear pledged to lobby legislators for his proposals, which would allow both slots and table games at the casinos. His proposals would face a tougher battle in the Republican-majority Senate if they pass the Democrat-led House. Beshear's plan would allow seven racetrack-operated casinos and five free-standing gambling halls. The estimated annual revenue is 20 percent more than the $500 million Beshear cited in his campaign.
The proposed constitutional amendment would allow Kentucky to join border states like Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and West Virginia that have expanded gambling.
To get as far as a statewide vote in November, the amendment requires a three-fifths majority in both the House and Senate. The companion bill that spells out details of the proposal would require a majority in each chamber. Beshear left open the option of dealing with the enabling bill during another session after the amendment is considered by voters.
"For too long the people's wishes conveyed through surveys and trips to casinos on our borders have been pushed aside," he said. "For too long this revenue option has been ignored while we've hemmed and hawed. It is time for resolution."
But opponents said legalizing casinos would increase social problems for families.
"The governor has issued a Valentine's Day massacre against the income of Kentucky's families," said David Edmunds, a policy analyst for the Family Foundation of Kentucky. The effective casino tax rate proposed by Beshear -- 50.65 percent -- would be one of the highest in the country.
Challenges ahead
The casinos could also face the challenge of having in-state competitors nearby. Turfway Park in Florence would be near a Kenton or Campbell county casino. In Western Kentucky, Ellis Park in Henderson could compete with a casino in neighboring Daviess County. Casinos along the Ohio River would also compete with those in Southern Indiana and Illinois.
Potential racetrack operators at Churchill Downs, Turfway and Ellis all said they believe they could be profitable under the plan. "We're very happy that the governor has taken a leadership role in this and that we have an opportunity to put this before the voters of the commonwealth of Kentucky," said Kevin Flanery, vice president of national public affairs for Churchill Downs Inc. "… And we're very encouraged that this is a great first step."
Churchill would compete against a Harrison County, Ind., casino with an effective tax rate below 30 percent, but Flanery said the Louisville-based track operator could be successful. "Part of it is where we're located," he said. "Part of it is the facility that we have. Part of it is that we have the Churchill Downs brand. People know us. They trust us."
He said Churchill will evaluate the governor's proposal before determining how much it would invest, what its development would include -- such as a hotel -- and where it would be built. Flanery said Churchill's preference is to develop a casino at the Central Avenue track. But since the bill would allow the casino to be elsewhere in Jefferson County, the company will consider what's best for itself, Louisville and the state.
The Rev. Nancy Jo Kemper, executive director of the Kentucky Council of Churches, said she doesn't believe legislators will be swayed by the revenue projections, and suggested they would be defeated for re-election if they support it. "I think they are a bit more realistic, and I also know that they like their jobs more than they like the $600 million," she said.
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KY Casinos (continued)
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Tax revenue
The amendment calls for 50 percent of the tax revenues to go to education, 20 percent to health care, 13 percent to local governments and 17 percent for other government programs. For the first five years the tax rates would be 10 percentage points lower, Beshear said, to offset licensing fees and start-up costs. He said he wanted all casinos to be on a level playing field. The racetrack operators, however, would benefit from having 15.65 percentage points of their 50.65 percent in taxes being returned to the horse industry. Some of the money would go to thoroughbred and standardbred purses.
Beshear defended returning some money to tracks, saying the difference wouldn't disadvantage nontrack casinos. The racetrack licenses would produce one-time payments totaling $500 million, with the Lexington tracks -- Keeneland and The Red Mile -- sharing a license. That Lexington license and the one for Churchill Downs would cost the most, at $100 million each.
The tracks could build on their property or elsewhere in their county, if the local legislative body agrees.
The five free-standing casinos would be awarded in a competitive bidding process established by a new Gaming Commission. Beshear said his administration projects those five licenses could generate $328.7 million. They would be in Daviess County, Christian County, Kenton or Campbell county, Boyd or Greenup county, and Laurel or Whitley county. Those casinos would be subject to a referendum in the city or county where they would be located.
Ultimately, if all 12 casinos were built, Beshear said the state budget office projects that the casinos could produce up to $599.3 million a year from wagering taxes and license fees. The license fees would produce $500.9 million in 2008-09 and, combined with taxes, $481.9 million in 2009-10. Beshear senior policy adviser Joe Meyer, a former state senator, said it's possible that not all licenses would be used. If a racetrack casino license is not sought by the end of 2010, it would expire.
No sooner did Beshear unveil the legislation than prominent House members started to express concerns about it. House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, did not attend the announcement. Beshear met Wednesday with the House Democratic Caucus, which has 63 seats in the 100-member chamber. Afterward, he said House leaders would co-sponsor his proposal. But yesterday Richards did not sign on to the enabling legislation, House Bill 537. He joined four other members of leadership to co-sponsor the proposed amendment, HB 550.
Richards said he did not attend Beshear's announcement because he has concerns about the enabling bill and because he had other meetings at that time. He said he backs the amendment. "I think the enabling legislation needs a little work." He said his failure to appear should not be taken as a snub of the governor. "There's no protest, no protest," he said. "I'm going to help the governor pass the constitutional amendment."
He declined to specify his concerns about the enabling legislation. Richards also said he had a concern with the of the proposed amendment, which would put the maximum tax rates into the constitution. "To put those in the constitution seems to me to be a little problematic," he said.
Reporters Tom Loftus and Stephenie Steitzer contributed to this story. Reporter Gregory A. Hall can be reached at (502) 582-4087.
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Beshear's casino plan
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FRANKFORT -- It would cost Turfway Park in Florence $75 million to
get a casino license under a far-ranging casino gambling plan unveiled today by
Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear. Two of the casinos would be in Northern
Kentucky.
Beshear’s bill calls for 12 casinos across the state.
Seven would be at the state’s race tracks and five at free-standing
locations, including Kenton or Campbell counties in Northern Kentucky; in or
around Owensboro, Ashland, Hopkinsville, and in either Whitley or Laurel
counties near the Tennessee line.
• What
do you think of the casino plan?
Casinos could generate up to $600 million a year in new tax revenue once
fully operational, Beshear said this morning during a briefing in the
Capitol.
• Beshear
being "dishonest," foe says
The bill stipulates that either Kenton or Campbell county would be
eligible for a casino. Most likely locations are along the river in Newport and
Covington, according to developers, gaming companies and market
studies.
Beshear estimates that Turfway’s casino would annually generate
$256.4 million in revenue and $90 million in taxes. A casino in Kenton or
Campbell county would annually generate $316.5 million in revenue and $160.3
million in taxes, according to the estimates.
Across the state, revenue
from 12 casinos is estimated at $1.5 billion and $600 million in
taxes.
Under Beshear’s bill casinos at tracks would not have to receive
any local approval to operate. But the free-standing casinos would be subject to
a vote of the people in the city or county where it is located.
For
instance, if a casino is in Covington, then voters – either in a regular or
special election that would have to be paid for by the casino company – in
Covington would get to decide if a casino opens in the city.
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Beshear's casino plan (continued)
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Beshear proposes that tax money generated by the casinos be spent on education,
health care, economic development, substance abuse, infrastructure, tourism and
public safety. Up to $2 million would be dedicated to helping compulsive
gamblers overcome and deal with their addiction.
Money would also go to
local governments, including three percent of casino taxes to the city or county
where the casino is located.
Non-host city and counties would also get a
cut but would have to spend the money on law enforcement, fire protection,
emergency medical service, jails, homeland security and abatement of hazardous
conditions.
Tracks would pay one-time license fees of $50 million to $100
million, with Turfway paying $75 million for a license. Turfway, which is
partially owned by the Las Vegas-based gaming company Harrah’s Entertainment,
wants to build a $250 million casino adjacent to the track. Licenses for the
free-standing casinos would be put out to bid.
Beshear estimates that
the licenses would attract an average minimum of $70 million.
For the
first five years, the tracks and free-standing casinos would be taxed at 25
percent of their gaming revenue, plus an additional 15.65 percent. The
additional taxes would, in the case of the tracks, go to various incentives and
programs in the horse industry. Additional taxes from the free-standing casinos
would go to the state.
After five years, the 25 percent tax rate jumps to
35 percent, making the effective tax rate just over 50 percent. That would be
one of the highest, if not the highest, tax rates in the nation.
The
license fees from the tracks could generate $500 million in the first year of
the next two-year budget cycle, which begins in June. Beshear said that money is
needed because the state is in a “financial crisis” and faces a nearly $1
billion revenue shortfall over the next two years.
In the budget’s second
year gaming taxes from the casinos that had opened and license fees from the
free-standing casinos would generate an estimated $482 million in
taxes.
Beshear’s legislative package is actually two pieces of
legislation: a constitutional amendment allowing casino gambling and a 136-page
bill that spells out the specifics of how gambling would be conducted in the
state.
The bill goes to the legislature, where changes, including a
lowering of the tax rate, are expected to be proposed. If the constitutional
amendment is approved it will be on the ballot in November.
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West Virginia Racetracks Hit Jackpot with Table Games
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Charleston
Gazette
Staff
writer
West Virginia's two Northern Panhandle racetracks seem to have hit the
jackpot with table games, initial revenue figures show.
Lottery Commission Director John Musgrave told the House and Senate
Finance Committees that weekly table game revenues soared once the two tracks
began offering a full range of casino-style gaming in mid-December.
Although stressing that the numbers are very preliminary, Musgrave said
actual gross receipts for table games at Mountaineer Racetrack and Casino and
Wheeling Island Racetrack and Casino are twice as high as expected.
The Lottery had projected that Mountaineer would bring in about $574,000
a week once the full complement of casino games launched. (From mid-October
through mid-December, the tracks offered only poker tables.)
Instead, Mountaineer's table game receipts jumped from $462,050 for the
week ending Dec. 29, to $1,000,945 for the week ending Jan. 5, and up to
$1,065,940 for the week ending Jan. 12.
Likewise, the Lottery had projected weekly table games revenue of about
$293,000 at Wheeling Island.
Actual revenues jumped from $284,606 for the week ending Dec. 22, up to
$798,757 for the week ending Dec. 29.
Receipts dipped to $648,596 for the week ending Jan. 5, then climbed back
to $792,110 for week ending Jan. 12.
Perhaps more significantly, Musgrave said the implementation of full
range of table games at the track also resulted in an upswing in video slots
play at the two tracks - tracks that had been hard hit in 2007 with the launch
of video slot parlors in neighboring Pennsylvania.
WV Table Games (continued)
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Initial figures showed a 23 percent increase in video lottery revenues at
Wheeling Island with the full implementation of table games, nearly recouping
the decline in video slots play following the introduction of competition from
Pennsylvania, he said.
Mountaineer Racetrack reported a weekly increase in video lottery
revenues of more than 15 percent.
Figures for the week ending Jan. 12 show that blackjack was the most
popular table game at the two tracks, generating $657,845 in revenue for the
week, followed by craps ($403,772) and poker ($292,340).
Musgrave stressed that it is too early to say whether the initial figures
represent a long-term trend, or a temporary spike in player interest.
"We're hoping it stays the way it is," he said.
Senate Finance Chairman Walt Helmick, D-Pocahontas, said the downside of
the higher-than-projected table games collections is that the one county where
voters rejected the table games referendum, Jefferson, is home to the largest of
the four racetrack/gaming centers.
Instead of missing out on a projected $25 million a year in state revenue
from table games at Charles Town Races, he said, the actual lost revenue could
be closer to $50 million a year.
To contact staff writer Phil Kabler, use e-mail or call 348-1220.
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With so many horses, Pennsylvania makes more hay
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Just as New Jersey grows less, rising equine population is pushing up demand.
By Arlene Martínez
Of The Morning Call
February 4, 2008
From the sprawling ranches of affluent New Jersey horse lovers to the posh barns housing the most prized thoroughbreds, it's the must-have of the season.
Every season.
Some want low sugar, some want high protein. Nearly all want it green. Very green.
It's hay.
Around these parts, farmers willing to grow hay stand to gain big from the rapidly growing horse population in Pennsylvania and neighboring New Jersey that needs the dietary staple.
Pennsylvania's horse population has boomed in recent years, and shows no signs of leveling off. Lured by purses that in January more than doubled in some places -- thanks to an infusion of gaming money from slot machines -- racing horse breeders and owners are moving to Pennsylvania. They're also capitalizing on bigger bonuses being awarded to Pennsylvania-bred horses.
Meanwhile, New Jersey has more horses per square mile than in any other state, and declining space to grow the alfalfa, Timothy, red clover and other grasses the horses love.
From 2003 to 2007, the amount of harvested hay in New Jersey dropped by 100,000 acres because of population growth and land development, according to the New Jersey Department of Agriculture.
The growing racing industry and New Jersey's obsession with horses is only part of what's benefitting hay growers.
There's also been a shift in mind-set in the last few years on the horse owner's relationship with the equine. Horses have become the new dog. Owners are keeping their horses longer and horses are living longer, fueling the need for more hay.
''I have a waiting list of customers. My hay is sold before I make it,'' said Bob Bieber, who has been growing hay on his Moore Township farm for 20 years.
Bieber sells a mix of alfalfa and orchard grass to clients in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He has it down pat, able to bale hay the same day he mows it, thanks to his hay dryer.
Still, demand is so high that, this coming season, he plans to install a second hay dryer to keep pace with his growing customer base.
Recognizing the increased demand, agricultural advocates in both states are touting the benefits of growing hay. Penn State University's Cooperative Extension and Outreach and the Equine Science Center at Rutgers University are at the forefront, hosting conferences, conducting economic surveys and promoting the industry.
''The universities are recognizing the need to promote horses and better horse health through education. That helps guys like me. Because...if the horses are being healthy they'll live longer and they'll eat more hay,'' said Ryck Suydam, vice president of the New Jersey Farm Bureau and a hay farmer in Somerset, N.J.
Last year, hay was a $450 million industry for Pennsylvania farmers. Farmers are eager to get a share, and grew hay on 1.8 million acres across the state in 2007, up from 1.7 million acres four years earlier.
Farmers in the region were part of the growth, posting increases in the number of acres planted in Berks, Bucks, Carbon and Montgomery counties.
Though 2006 was a record year for hay growers -- they bundled 5.1 million tons of the stuff -- they did not fare as well in 2007 thanks to last summer's drought (just 4.2 million tons, an 18 percent decrease).
That's the thing about hay. Growing it can be risky business, even in Pennsylvania, where conditions are better than in many places, thanks to good soils and sufficient amounts of rainfall.
Pennsylvania farmers have benefited by being able to offer Jersey horse owners cheaper hay, thanks, in part, to the impact New Jersey's higher taxes have on price. But that advantage could lessen, said Suydam.
''At the same time with a downturn in the economy, people who are on the edge, who have the one or two backyard horses are going to find it's hard to keep a horse,'' he said.
That's why people such as Donna Foulk, a forage educator with Penn State's Cooperative Extension, travel the state to teach best practices, as she did a couple of weeks ago in Lehigh County.
''It's a changing horse industry. Horse owners want a high-quality supply of hay,'' she told a group of about 25 farmers gathered for the 2008 Southeastern Pennsylvania Crops Conference in South Whitehall Township. ''You have to know your horse. You have to know your market.''
Farmers nodded in agreement and traded tips on how to make more money from growing hay. A lot of it has to do with how owners view their horses.
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Pennsylvania Makes More Hay (continued)
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''Their horses are their kids,'' called out one farmer.
Added another: ''They do everything but sleep with them!''
One farmer said he is able to charge top dollar by growing low-sugar hay requested by one customer.
Another farmer said he earned more money by including an analysis of the hay, detailing the protein, fiber, magnesium and potassium content (even if many of those customers don't exactly know what it means, the farmer admitted).
Bieber said he knows how to keep his customers happy.
The secret?
Keep the mold away and make sure the hay retains its attractive green color.
The customers, said Bieber, insist on it.
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State must help racing just like other industries
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Trainer Greg Foley's 1,000th victory came recently at Turfway Park; No. 1,001 came in Arkansas. That could be a harbinger.
Even though Turfway's purses don't really justify it, Foley and his owners choose to spend the winter in Kentucky, though this year at his Wisconsin clients' behest he has a few horses at Oaklawn Park.
Kentucky racing's Greg Foleys should be the face of the discussion whether tracks become the main proprietors of casino gambling (if legislation ever passes to make it legal). Not tracks' owners or well-paid executives.
For several years, Foley has considered racing at Oaklawn's winter meet rather than concentrating everything in his year-round Kentucky base. But the trainer wants to be here. He wanted to see his older son Travis -- a University of Kentucky grad and University of Louisville graduate student -- score a school-record 45 points for South Oldham's basketball team. He wouldn't have missed for anything watching son Alex recently score the game-winner for North Oldham.
Sure, you say, there are plenty of parents who want to watch their children's activities and stay in their hometowns but can't because of companies downsizing or closing. Why are people in the horse industry any different?
Because this debate should be about one of the state's most labor-intensive industries, employing tens of thousands. You're never going to automate giving a horse a bath, or handling foals. Kentucky needs to decide if it wants to ensure the long-term health of a vital industry (after, of course, the state gets its considerable cut).
Real people in need
I have no problem with Kentucky spending millions to keep Ford plants open or to lure Toyota. Just please note the agri-business of racing and breeding employs far more than those companies do here. Think of the tourism. How many people detour off the interstate to take pictures of the Chamberlain Lane plant?
"Kentucky is going to have to do something," said Tim Sweeney, one of Foley's Wisconsin owners who make substantial investment in Kentucky through buying and racing horses. "It's difficult to justify what we have to pay for yearlings. Obviously we're having fun with it. But you have to apply some business sense, and that's making less and less business sense."
Fred Schwartz, one of Sweeney's partners, called purses in Kentucky "deplorable," adding, "If you don't increase your purse structure, you're going to lose stables."
Here's what is happening: Yesterday's Turfway card might be the worst since the track was known as Latonia. Of the nine races, seven were $5,000 claimers and two were $7,500 maidens. Purses totaled $62,500 -- or one good Keeneland allowance race.
Turfway probably won't descend to the bottom status of, say, Beulah Park in Ohio. It would become a mall or part of the airport first.
The kings in the Sport of Kings are the few. Much more populous are middle-class and blue-collar horsemen and their employees. They are your neighbors, property owners and taxpayers. Just like Ford and Toyota employees. The Foleys of horse racing also are small businesses, averaging two or more employees for every four horses.
Casinos could make a difference.
Keeneland does not need casino gaming to thrive. Churchill will be fine without, too, though its stagnant purses are no longer special. Unlike Fruit of the Loom, Turfway and Ellis Park won't move to Honduras; their option is to close. But horsemen like Foley and his owners can leave.
Kentucky already is several years late in letting casino gaming make a huge difference in this signature industry. But if casino gaming does come and legislators and voters don't choose to invest in racing as it has some corporations, it will be a much different industry -- providing the state with far smaller dividends in employment, taxes and tourism.
Jennie Rees can be reached at (502) 582-4042 or jrees@courier-journal.com.
Comment on this column, and read her blog and previous columns, at www.courier-journal.com/rees.
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New horse racing track, casino planned in PA
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Saturday, January 26, 2008
By Peter Krouse
Plain Dealer Reporter
The Plain Dealer
Ohio's
economy leaves little to chance.
Not so with its neighbors.
Yet another casino and race track within easy driving distance of Cleveland is in the
works.
Centaur Inc. has permission from the Pennsylvania Harness Racing Commission to
build a mile-long harness track and casino called Valley View Downs on a
250-acre site near New Castle, Pa, about 12 miles east of Youngstown and not far
from Interstate 80 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
The $428 million project awaits approval from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control
Board. Centaur hopes to be up and running by summer or fall of next year.
Valley View Downs would join the arleady-operating Presque Isle Downs and
Casino in Erie, Pa.;
Mountaineer Casino Racetrack and Resort in Chester,
W.Va.; The Meadows Racetrack and Casino near Pittsburgh; and Wheeling
Island dog track and casino in Wheeling, W.Va., to
create a phalanx of gaming along Ohio's
eastern border.
Valley View Downs expects to draw at least half its business from Ohio, said Jeffrey
Smith, managing director of racing for Centaur of Indianapolis. Centaur
also owns Hoosier Park, a horse track in Indiana
that will offer slot-machine gambling by this summer, and a casino in Colorado.
Ohio horse tracks, including Thistledown and Northfield Park
near Cleveland
offer wagering on horses, but by law cannot offer casino-style gambling, a
restriction that the state's horse industry says puts it at a
disadvantage. Valley View would make it even harder for those tracks to compete
for the gambling dollar.
"It's going to devastate Northfield,"
said Tom Aldrich, the track's chief operating officer.
The harness track has already cut its work force from about 400 full-time and
part-time employees to about 220 over the last three to four years, Aldrich
said.
Valley View would offer a minimum of 150 days of live racing, along with
year-round betting on horse races broadcast from other tracks around the
country. It also would have 3,000 slot machines with the ability to
expand to 5,000.
The track would put 1,500 people to work during construction. Once built,
it would provide about 1,000 mostly full-time, permanent jobs.
Pennsylvania's
legislature approved slots in 2004 to provide tax relief for property owners
and to revitalize that state's horse-racing industry. In little more than
a year, the state has taken in $632 million from slots, not including an
additional $550 million in license fees, said Richard McGarvey, spokesman for
the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. The state taxes slots revenue at
55 percent.
Ohio's horse
industry craves a similar shot in the arm. It has been struggling for
years. Track revenue has dropped and the number of foals born in the
state has declined sharply as trainers and owners take their mares and stallions to other states where there's
more money to be made.
Purses at Ohio tracks averaged slightly more
than $8,000 a race in 2007 compared with a little more than $20,000 per race in
Pennsylvania, according to information
provided by the Jockey Club, West
Virginia purses averaged almost $17,000 a race.
(continued below)
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New PA track (continued)
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Thistledown is up for sale by Magna Entertainment Corp., a
Canadian company that says the lack of casino gambling in Ohio made the track expendable.
And so, the industry in Ohio
points to neighboring states that have embraced casino gambling and asks, why
not us? State political leaders aren't sympathetic.
State Rep. Lou Blessing, a Cincinnati-area Republican who supported a recent
state referendum on casino gambling that failed, said the issue is dead because
Gov. Ted Strickland and leaders in both the Ohio House and Senate oppose
expanding gambling.
Strickland spokesman Keith Dailey said the proposed Valley View Downs project does not change the governor's thinking.
"Governor Strickland has faith in the ability of Ohioans to innovate and
do the things that need to be done to create a strong economy," he said.
Without extended gambling as an option, Sam Zonak, executive director of the Ohio
State Racing Commission, is seeking other means to help the industry. He
wants to hire a firm to study what can be done.
One possibility involves Internet betting, which has grown dramatically.
It's not taxed by the state, despite siphoning away a large chunk of wagering
that would otherwise occur at Ohio
tracks.
Last year, Ohio tracks handled nearly $372 million in wagers, but as much as
$200 million was bet in-state over the Internet, according to the state racing
commission.
Arizona
recently outlawed Internet wagering on horse racing in that state, Zonak said.
--------
To reach this Plain Dealer reports:
pkrouse@plaind.com, 216-999-4834
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Mainstay on harness race scene for 50 years led Ottawa County Fair
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Toledoblade.com
ELMORE - Gordon Harry Witty, a longtime fixture in area harness racing who drove and trained Standardbreds into his 70s, died Thursday in St. Charles Mercy Hospital.
He was 81 and died of heart failure, his son, Michael, said.
A lifelong Elmore resident, Mr. Witty's family owned show horses, and he traced his attraction to horse racing to watching his first live race when he was 8 years old.
In 1944, he graduated from the former Harris-Elmore High School, and married the former Patsy Marshall.
After serving in the U.S. Army Air Force, the precursor of the Air Force, he returned to Elmore in 1948 and bought his first racehorse, his son said.
He went on to race the horse that year at a track in Seneca County's Attica, beginning a career in harness racing, training, and breeding that would span 50 years.
By the time Mr. Witty retired in 1998, there were many his age in the stands, but few still on the track.
"He just kept going and going and going," his son said. "He said, 'I want to do at least 50 years. 'These other guys were 20, 30 years old - and he was in his 70s."
He raced on harness tracks throughout Ohio and southeast Michigan at numerous state fairgrounds and at Toledo's Raceway Park.
Along with racing horses for others, Mr. Witty owned two to three of his own Standardbreds at any one time. In later years, he kept his horses at the Ottawa County Fairgrounds, which hosts an annual Gordon Witty Trot.
Mr. Witty won prize money, but typically just enough to cover expenses for his horses' upkeep, according to his son.
"He said, 'I never got rich at it, but I had a heck of a lot of fun,'•" Michael Witty said.
Mr. Witty was a charter member and past president of the Ottawa County Fair, which he helped start in the mid-1960s, his son said.
He also served as the fair's harness racing director, and was a past president of the Northwest Ohio Harness Racing Association. In 2004, the U.S. Trotting and Ohio Harness Horsemen's associations formally honored Mr. Witty for his many decades in the sport.
Off the track, Mr. Witty was employed for 26 years as a meat cutter at the former Super Dollar store in Elmore. From the mid-1970s until 1990, he was a sexton for the Harris Township Cemetery.
He was a member of St. Paul Trinity United Methodist Church and American Legion Post 279, both in Elmore.
Mrs. Witty died in 2004.
Surviving are his son, Michael Witty; daughter, Catherine Smith; one granddaughter, and two great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be after 11 a.m. tomorrow in the Crosser Funeral Home, Elmore Chapel, where services will be at 1 p.m. Monday.
The family suggests tributes to the Harris-Elmore EMS or Allen-Clay EMS Station 3.
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Lawmakers hear from top casino executive
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Tuesday, January 15, 2008
More Breaking News about LVS
FRANKFORT, Jan 15, 2008 The head of one of the world's top gaming corporations told legislators Monday that Kentucky could support destination casinos that couple gaming with entertainment, retail and dining, with such a facility likely located in Louisville or northern Kentucky.
"It's not just about gaming," said Bill Weidner, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp. "It is the additional things, the other things, the other entertainments ... that really drives the additional value of the visit."
Weidner was speaking to the House working group assembled by Speaker Jody Richards to gather information on casino gaming and work with Gov. Steve Beshear on drafting a legislative proposal to bring casinos to Kentucky.
Along with a destination casino, the state could also support smaller facilities at horse race tracks and nontrack locations, with the markets across the Ohio River from existing casinos in Indiana, including Owensboro, as possible sites, Weidner said.
When asked by Rep. Tommy Thompson, a Philpot Democrat, about anticipated receipts from casinos in the state, Weidner said casinos could easily bring in the $1.4 billion that has been used as an estimate.
With those receipts from gaming, and a 35 percent tax that has been offered as a possible tax rate, the state would stand to bring in $490 million annually from casinos.
Weidner said looking at the receipts of Indiana casinos that border Kentucky, those numbers might be conservative, and with the possibility of land-based casinos in the state, those numbers could be higher.
"You have the potential for a much more competitive product than the riverboat product," Weidner told the group. "I think $1.4 billion is a conservative view. ... I think your opportunity is more than that."
The tax rate that the state establishes for gambling earnings likely will determine the amount of investment that a casino corporation makes in a facility, Weidner said.
The lower the tax rate, the more investment a corporation will make in a facility, Weidner said.
Such mega-complexes in Las Vegas and Atlantic City are possible in part because of the lower tax rate, which is below 10 percent in both Nevada and New Jersey, Weidner said.
"The amount of investment is proportional to the casino tax," Weidner said. "It's just that simple. ... We want to build very large, very interesting, very fun places. That's what we do."
Las Vegas Sands Corp. in recent years has opened a $350 million Venetian casino in Macau, a region of China, and will have the grand opening of its new $1.8 billion Palazzo in Las Vegas next week.
Weidner said the state might consider linking the tax rate to the amount of investment in a facility, with larger facilities garnering lower tax rates, but said that idea might be controversial.
The state and local governments would be able to bring in secondary tax revenues from employment and sales generated at destination facilities, Weidner said.
However, when asked, Weidner could not name another destination casino outside of Las Vegas, New Jersey or casinos on Native American reservations.
Weidner said Kentucky would be able to support a casino with an investment of between $400 million and $600 million, and that casinos should mostly be near existing Indiana casinos to tap into those markets.
"I think competitors have kind of told you where they think there's value," Weidner said. "We are interested in Kentucky, and there are couple of locations we would be particularly interested in."
Las Vegas Sands Corp. is currently working on the $600 million Bethworks casino resort in Bethlehem, Penn., which followed that recent introduction of slot machines, but not table games, to the state. Weidner said he anticipates the state allowing table games, such as blackjack, craps and poker, in the future.
The horse racing industry lobbied during previous legislative sessions to expand gambling in Kentucky to allow slot machines at race tracks but has since changed its stance to push for full-service casinos that might be allowed at nontrack sites.
Weidner told reporters after the meeting that if Kentucky passes slots-only legislation, the state would not be as attractive to a casino developer because of the presence of table games across the Ohio River in Indiana.
"I think you would lose a lot of opportunity if it were slots alone," Weidner said.
The working group will meet again this afternoon and has meetings scheduled through Jan. 23.
If a constitutional amendment is passed by the legislature to allow casinos in Kentucky, it must be approved by voters this fall.
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Philly: More Money in the New Year by Tom LaMarra
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Date Posted: 1/1/2008 10:18:37 AM Last Updated: 1/2/2008 9:05:09 AM
The year 2008 has brought another purse increase to Philadelphia Park Casino one year later it jumped to 1,250.
With more ship-ins at Philly Park—roughly 40 per program—the racing office is tinkering with the condition book to ensure locally based trainers have options for their stock.
“It’s kind of scary,” Sinatra said. “In order to protect my horsemen, we have to come up with some new categories (of races).”
Currently, Charles Town Races and Slots in West Virginia and Laurel Park in Maryland are the other tracks racing live in the Mid-Atlantic region. Racing returns to Delaware and New Jersey in April.
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Racetracks take in double the expected table games revenue
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Harnesslink
February 6, 2008
Hoosier Park will host a career opportunity forum at the Horizon Center in Muncie, Ind. Tuesday, February 19. The session will begin at 6 p.m. and will provide community residents with information and guidance concerning potential employment options soon available at the all-new Hoosier Park Racing and Casino.
“This is the final career opportunity forum scheduled for area residents,” said Jim Brown, general manager of gaming.
“These employment sessions have allowed us an opportunity to provide important information about our expansion to candidates interested in joining our growing team. We are in the midst of developing a true entertainment destination.”
The career forum will overview the new Hoosier Park Racing and Casino operation, the types of positions that will become available, the company’s commitment to diversity and providing equal employment opportunities and the types of benefits that can be expected.
A brief description of jobs, along with the application process, will be discussed. Information about on-line application procedures will be included.
Hoosier Park staff members will be present to introduce themselves to the Muncie community. Immediately following the session, attendees can talk to managers and enjoy refreshments.
More details regarding the career opportunity forum in Muncie can be obtained by calling the Hoosier Park human resources department at (765) 642-7223.
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Lawmakers Wait for Casinos Details
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Most in region favor vote, but hedging until they see bill
BY PATRICK CROWLEY | PCROWLEY@NKY.COM
FRANKFORT -- Most lawmakers from Northern Kentucky favor the broad concept of giving voters the chance to decide on legalizing casino gambling in Kentucky.
But the support could wane as the General Assembly begins tearing into the details of how gambling would be structured, from the number and locations of casinos to how the estimated $500 million in casino-generated tax money would be spent.
"I'm going to have to see a bill first," said Rep. Joe Fischer, R-Fort Thomas. He said he plans to survey his constituents on the issue, though he expects a majority will favor voting on it.
"But they want conditions attached," Fischer said. "And I'll not support a constitutional amendment unless there is a local option referendum in the county where the casino is located and unless ... most of the money generated stays on the local level."
With the state facing a budget shortfall approaching $400 million, new Gov. Steve Beshear - who campaigned on a promise to bring the issue to a vote - and many in the General Assembly are likely to turn to gambling as a new source of tax revenue.
"We have a dire need for revenue," said Rep. Arnold Simpson, D-Covington, who favors putting the issue on the ballot.
But Simpson does not favor limiting casinos to the state's horse tracks, which the horse-racing industry and others are pushing.
Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, the head of the Northern Kentucky Legislative Caucus, also favors letting the voters decide.
But he is opposed to putting casinos outside of the state's horse tracks.
"Until I see the language of the bill, I'm not fully committed," he said.
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Lake Township horse breeders far from final stretch
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Thursday, January 3, 2008
BY Edd Pritchard
REPOSITORY STAFF WRITER
LAKE TWP. Her son is wintering in Florida, preparing for the next racing season. Meanwhile, Marrakesh remains in Ohio, keeping the other mares at Fox Chapel Farm in line.
Marrakesh tends to boss the other mares, said Debbie Kopatz, who with her husband, Rick, owns Fox Chapel Farm. And Marrakesh has turned out some good foals, with King of the Roxy being the best, so far.
Horse-racing fans know that King of the Roxy ran in the Preakness Stakes in May, finishing sixth in a nine-horse field. King of the Roxy got to the Preakness after running second in the Santa Anita Derby in California and winning the Hutcheson Stakes at Gulfstream Park in Florida.
But by then, King of the Roxy was running for Team Valor Stables, an international racing syndicate that owns dozens of the world’s top Thoroughbred horses.
The Kopatzes, meanwhile, became known as the breeders who sold a potential big-money horse for $8,000.
So be it, Debbie said. “I guess God just wanted me to stay humble.”
Breeding and raising horses is a lot of work, but the money from the horse business doesn’t pay all of the bills. The Kopatzes care for the horses between full-time jobs; Debbie operates a bail bond service from home, and Rick works as a designer.
GETTING NOTICED
Because Debbie and Rick were the breeders for King of the Roxy, the folks at Team Valor got tickets for the Kopatzes to attend the Preakness, making for a fun weekend in Baltimore.
After the Preakness, King of the Roxy ran two more races. He finished second in the Barbaro Stakes at Delaware Park and ran seventh in the King’s Bishop Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in New York. In 2007, he earned about $300,000.
Right now, he’s working out at Palm Beach Downs in Florida. He’s under the watch of Todd Pletcher, considered one of the leading trainers in Thoroughbred racing.
Debbie is confident King of the Roxy will get more attention in 2008. For starters, he showed himself to be among the better 3-year-old thoroughbreds. Now that he’s a 4-year-old, the competition has thinned, with several other top-rated colts, including Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, having retired to stud.
It proved to be an exciting year for Kopatz, who has been breeding horses for 25 years.
Her story garnered plenty of attention from thoroughbred racing publications, including The Blood-Horse, a magazine she has been reading since high school. “To be in The Blood-Horse, oh my,” Kopatz said of the article.
OHIO RACING SLUMP
As an Ohio-bred horse, the success of King of the Roxy is unusual. That’s because the racing industry in Ohio has been on a decline.
Not long ago, Ohio breeders would produce more than 1,000 colts and fillies each year. But in 2006, only 238 Ohio-bred thoroughbreds were born.
The drop is blamed on legalized gambling in states that border Ohio. Thoroughbred tracks in Pennsylvania and West Virginia can use proceeds from slot machines and other gambling to boost purses for races. There also are programs that offer a bigger payoff for horses bred in those states, which gives breeders greater incentive to move operations out of Ohio.
Thoroughbred breeders in Ohio are at a competitive disadvantage, said Tim Hamm, vice president of the Ohio Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners association. “We’re sitting right in the middle of them. Our breeding industry and our racing industry are being hurt,” he said.
Programs aimed at helping breeders are being developed, but it’s hard to compete against the incentives offered in other states, Hamm said.
Some larger breeders have relocated breeding operations to the neighboring states. Hamm said some smaller breeders simply have given up. The drop in Ohio-born horses shows that breeders are leaving or quitting, he said.
The Kopatzes haven’t backed out yet.
Marrakesh is the leader of a dozen mares pastured on 11 acres the Kopatzes have in Lake Township. Two mares are pregnant and should give birth this year. Marrakesh was pregnant, but lost her foal. Debbie said she hopes to breed her this year.
In the meantime, the couple is prepping a colt they have named Barry. Marrakesh is Barry’s mother, and his sire is Bright Launch. As half brother to King of the Roxy, Barry, born Feb. 15, has caught some attention. The Kopatzes thought they had sold Barry, but the deal fell through.
So Barry — just as his brother did — will prowl fields in Lake TownshippAnd Debbie will watch and continue living a dream she has had since her teen King of the Roxy helped the dream come true. “I always wanted breed a great horse. I did that.”
Reach Repository writer Edd Pritchard at (330) 580-8484 or e-mail:
edd.pritchard@cantonrep.com
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Post Poconos Slots Top East
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Scott Borgemenke
Husted's chief of staff to become horse-racing executive
Monday, January 14, 2008 3:19 PM
By Alan Johnson
COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Scott Borgemenke, top staff member for Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted, is resigning to return to his second love — horse racing.
Borgemenke, 42, whose last day as Husted’s chief of staff is Friday, will become executive vice president for racing with Magna Entertainment Corp., the Toronto-based company that is the largest owner and operator of race tracks in North America, including Thistledown in Cleveland. Borgemenke was chairman of the Ohio State Racing Commission from 2002 to 2004.
“At what he does, Scott is the best,” said Husted, a Kettering Republican. “Scott has given more than I can ask in service to the House, and I want to thank him and his family for the sacrifices they have made to make Ohio a better place.”
“If I were to name two of my greatest interests — public policy being one — horse racing is clearly the second,” Borgemenke said in a release. His late father, Ralph, was a jockey who rode King O’ Swords in the 1956 Kentucky Derby.
Borgemenke was chief policy advisor and director of cabinet affairs during Bob Taft’s first year as governor. He previously worked in the Ohio Senate as director of finance and chief of staff for former Senate President Stanley J. Aronoff and did a stint as executive director of the Cincinnati Business Committee in 1996.
No successor was immediately named.
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Some Interesting Figures
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Ohio and Oregon have released handle figures for last year, and they are revealing. In Ohio, betting at HTA’s Lebanon Raceway, Northfield Park, and Scioto Downs, and at Raceway Park, all were down, a total of 14.3%. Scioto was down 21.25% with two less days of racing than in 2006; Lebanon was down 15%, with two more days; Northfield was down 13.6%, with the same 364 days of racing; and Raceway was down 6.7%, with 362 days of racing in both years. All thoroughbred tracks in the state also were down, ranging from Thistledown’s loss of 14.55 % through Beulah Park’s decline of 9.5% to River Downs’ 8.2%, with only a day’s difference in number of racing days. Statewide totals dropped 12.71%.
Oregon’s racing commission issued handle figures for the last seven years. Hub betting was negligible in 2000, but in its first full year, 2001, Greyhound Channel, doing business then as US Off-Track, had a high second quarter, handling $3.168 million. In 2007, now known as Pay Dog, it handled over $7 million in each of the first three quarters of the year. TVG went from a high quarter of $13.8 million in 2001 to $151.4 million in the third quarter of 2007; AmericaTAB went from $11.2 in the last quarter of 2001 to $62.3 million before being acquired by Churchill Downs in the second quarter of 2007. Youbet, which arrived in Oregon in 2002, had a high quarter that year of $42.5 million, and its high quarter in 2007 was $133.3 million. The Racing Channel, doing business as Oneclickbetting.com, handled $42.9 million in its highest quarter in 2002, and only $10 million in its best quarter last year. XpressBet entered the fray in 2005, with a high quarter of $26.2 million, and posted $56.1 million in its best trimester last year. IRG, in the same time frame, went from $2.1 million to $87.3 million in its bestquarter. Churchill’s Twin Spires hit $39.4 million in its second quarter last year.
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