22-Year handle low sets tone for 2008 Ohio equine industry outlook
|
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: January 28. 2008
Contact: Kristin Mack Deuber, 614.224.8114 (office), 614.975.4186 (cell), kmack@paulwerth.com
Click here to view the 2008 Ohio Horse Racing Outlook
22-YEAR HANDLE LOW SETS TONE FOR 2008 OHIO EQUINE INDUSTRY
OUTLOOK
Statewide handle drop below $400 million latest bad news for
Ohio horse racing (COLUMBUS, OHIO) - With wagering at Ohio horse race tracks
reaching a historic low, state industry leaders are highlighting the
convergence of factors that continue to prevent racing from level competition
with states with expanded gambling.Ohio handle dropped 12 percent in 2007, to $371.8 million.
It was the first time since 1984 wagering at Ohio horse race tracks dropped
below $400 million. Dropping handle is the key indicator of horse racing
activity migrating out of Ohio to states that support the industry with
expanded gambling revenue, where horses race for fatter purses driven up by
track casino wagering. Save Ohio Racing has created a 2008 outlook report that
explores the impact of expanded gambling on horse racing in neighboring states
and a legislative summary of likely expanded racetrack gambling adoption in new
states around Ohio.“Ohio is in the middle of a perfect storm raging against the
future of horse racing, breeding and training,” says Elisabeth Alexander, president of Ohio Thoroughbred Breeders and
Owners. “At a time when our leaders should be making every effort to protect a
viable, home-grown industry contributing $779 million a year to the state
economy, the storm just keeps growing with the legislature having no appetite to help our plight.” Ohio’s handle decline is especially alarming because other
states that have turned down expanded gambling in the past are accepting the
reality of its direct correlation to the health of the equine industry and as a
viable government funding source. “Sometimes – many times – it feels like our messages are
falling on deaf ears,” says Dr. John Mossbarger, past president of the Ohio
Harness Horsemen’s Association. “But we have no choice in the industry but to
keep repeating ourselves, in the hopes Ohioans will start to understand we’re
not just crying wolf. We are not only suffering against uneven competition now,
but stand to be in much worse shape if Kentucky or Maryland, or both, also vote
in 2008 to expand gambling supporting their horse racing operations.”
|
|
Standardbred Mare Breeding in Ohio Down 37% in 2007
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: December 11, 2007
Contact: Kristin Mack, 614.224.8114 (office), 614.975.4186 (cell), kmack@paulwerth.com
Standardbred Mares Bred By Stallions In Leading States
Standardbred Mares Bred Decline
STANDARDBRED MARE BREEDING IN OHIO DOWN 37 PERCENT IN 2007
Standardbred mares bred in Ohio this year dropped by more than 700; continues 12-year decline
Fewer standardbred mares than ever were bred in Ohio this year, a sure sign of declining horse breeding operations in the once-mighty harness racing center of the country. The United States Trotting Association reports that 1,261 standardbred mares were bred in Ohio in 2007, down from 1,997 in 2006 and continuing a 12-year decline from 3,383 standardbred mares bred in 1996.
Once the leading producer of harness racing horses, Ohio standardbred mare breeding now ranks sixth in the nation, behind five states where the horse racing industry is supported by expanded gambling.
“We have not been on a level playing field for a long time,” says Dr. John Mossbarger, a longtime Central Ohio standardbred breeder and industry leader. “But this is the most dramatic decline in standardbred mare breeding in 12 years.” The previous biggest decline, from 2004 to 2005, was under half of the 2007 decline of 736 fewer Ohio standardbred mares bred than in 2006.
“It’s clear that breeders waiting to see what would happen in the 2006 Ohio slots gambling vote aren’t waiting around any more for our state to take action supporting the equine industry,” says Mossbarger, a veterinarian owner of Bloomburg breeding operation Midland Acres Inc. and past president of the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association.
“We desperately need Ohio’s leaders and citizens to find a way to work with us instead of against us, so we can keep our mares and breeding operations here in our state,” says Mossbarger, who is also a director with the U.S. Trotting Association. “The equine racing industry is about real people and real jobs. Horse racing doesn’t operate in a vacuum: its presence has a profound impact on Ohio’s agricultural community.
“In other states with expanded gambling, there has been a substantial increase in horse training and breeding, and investment in farms, livestock and other ancillary products,” Mossbarger says.
While Ohio’s 2007 standardbred mares bred number declined, Pennsylvania, New York and Indiana all posted gains.
It makes more economic sense to breed standardbred mares in states with higher-stakes races, and it’s no surprise that the leading standardbred mare breeding states are now the ones in which expanded gambling helps fund big purse money, Mossbarger says.
The five states that eclipsed Ohio’s total of standardbred mares bred in 2007 – Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, New Jersey and Illinois – can all offer higher stakes for races of state-registered horses than Ohio because expanded gambling proceeds help fund purses there. The fees from increased registrations of the foals resulting from in-state breeding also drive up purse prizes, creating another obstacle to Ohio’s ability to compete.
“I hope this evidence means something to the people of Ohio,” Mossbarger says. “If we want to turn Ohio around, we must continue to get our message out to the citizens and legislators that it makes no sense for tax revenue from gambling to keep leaving our already depressed Ohio budget.”
To learn more about the impact of expanded gambling in surrounding states on Ohio’s equine industry, visit www.saveohioracing.com
|
|
KENTUCKY GOVERNOR-ELECT WINS ON PRO-GAMBLING PLATFORM
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: November 8, 2007
Contact: Kristin Mack, 614.224.8114 (office), 614.975.4186 (cell)
kmack@paulwerth.com
KENTUCKY GOVERNOR-ELECT WINS ON PRO-GAMBLING PLATFORM
Likely 2008 Kentucky casino gambling ballot initiative more bad news for Ohio horse racing
COLUMBUS, OHIO - Kentucky stands to be the last state bordering Ohio to add expanded gambling, at horse race tracks and other locations, following the Tuesday victory of gubernatorial candidate Steve Beshear.
Kentucky slots gambling at horse race tracks would join Indiana, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ontario in creating additional revenue for purse prizes vastly exceeding what Ohio tracks can offer.
“If casinos open in Kentucky, it will be a crippling blow to the Ohio horse racing industry from which it might not ever recover,” says Jack Hanessian, general manager of Cincinnati track River Downs. “I don’t see any way that River Downs could continue to operate unless the state worked with the industry to help Ohio tracks compete with some form of expanded gambling. Kentucky casinos would simply be the last nail in the coffin.”
Beshear, a Democrat, ran his campaign against incumbent Ernie Fletcher primarily on the expanded gambling issue, which Fletcher opposed. Beshear has supported casino gambling as a state revenue generator and a critical support tool for the historic Kentucky horse racing industry, which has been hit hard by competition with tracks with expanded gambling in neighboring states.
Pundits who followed the race view Beshear’s victory in part as a referendum in support of future casino gambling in Kentucky. Beshear won by a 60 percent margin. Kentucky’s legislature must first approve a ballot initiative, but according to a poll by Louisville’s The Courier-Journal, 78 percent of Kentuckians polled favored a public vote on a constitutional amendment to allow expanding gambling in the state. The poll also found that 48 percent of those surveyed support casinos, 42 percent opposed them and 11 percent were undecided, according to the Associated Press.
Casino gambling in Kentucky would put slots 20 miles away from River Downs at rival track Turfway Park in Florence. “Who would come to River Downs then?” Hanessian says. “Not only would our patrons want to play the slots across the Ohio River, but our race purses would become pitiful in comparison to what Kentucky tracks will be able to offer if they get expanded gambling revenue. In that scenario, it is a certainty that River Downs would have to close.”
Ohio horse race tracks already compete against subsidized tracks in Indiana, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ontario that pad horse race purses with gambling revenue, plus against casinos in Detroit. This year Ohio’s legislature shot down an “instant racing” bill that would have permitted machine-based parimutuel gambling on previously run races and has just outlawed “skill-based” machine games in an effort to ensure no expanded gambling in Ohio.
“Ohio is just about to become a victim of this protective moral mentality,” Hanessian says. “Our leaders and the public need to understand the stakes and act before it is too late. We can continue to insist that expanded gambling is not for Ohio, but we are shooting ourselves in the foot as our residents and their dollars flee the state to gamble across the border.
“Gambling money can be put to good use here and the first place to start would be Ohio horse race tracks,” Hanessian says. “Ohio can get behind the three-quarter-of-a-billion industry that supports Ohio horse racing with an expanded gambling solution, or keep casino gambling out of Ohio and lose even more money.”
To learn more about the impact of expanded gambling in surrounding states on Ohio’s equine industry, visit www.saveohioracing.com
|
|
HORSE RACING ALLOCATIONS TO SENIORS DWINDLE WITH ATTENDANCE
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: October 9, 2007
Contact: Kristin Mack Deuber,
614.224.8114 (office), 614.975.4186 (cell) kmack@paulwerth.com
HORSE RACING ALLOCATIONS TO SENIORS DWINDLE WITH ATTENDANCE
Senior care PASSPORT funding from race wagering down 32 percent from 2000-01 high
PASSPORT FUNDING DOWNLOADABLE PDF
Ohio horse racing wagering has directly supported the state senior care PASSPORT program for 10 years. But as wagering has fallen at horse race tracks – in part due to competition from other gambling entertainment options in surrounding states – so has the contribution to the state’s senior care program providing funding to help older Ohioans retain independence.
Since the creation of a wagering allocation to the home-based care PASSPORT program for seniors by the Ohio legislature, horse racing has provided more than $45 million to the program. But its 2006 contribution was the lowest ever – $3.6 million – down $1.7 million from a yearly high of $5.3 million in 2000 and 2001.
“It’s no secret that attendance and betting at Ohio horse race tracks is suffering,” says Gayle Babst, executive director of Ohio Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners. “But most people don’t have any idea that it means less money for senior care through PASSPORT. We keep hearing ‘no’ to expanded gambling at Ohio tracks that would increase betting, but the tracks still have to pay this special tax to the PASSPORT fund. I wish more people would realize that efforts to shore up horse racing would directly benefit seniors through PASSPORT and not just our industry.”
In 1996, the Ohio legislature eliminated the Ohio Horse Racing Quality Assurance Fund and established a gross tax revenue share on wagering for the Medicaid waiver PASSPORT program that pays for home-based care for seniors. A total of 25 percent of gross tax on track wagering revenue, 0.5 percent of off-track betting parlor wagers and 2.5 percent of winning payouts at off-track better parlors go toward the program annually.
“The PASSPORT program receives more money a year than either of the funds established to support thoroughbred and standardbred racing in Ohio,” Babst says. “We value PASSPORT as an important service to Ohio seniors and want the public to know it receives wagering financial support. It is frustrating to know how much more money seniors could be receiving through the program if expanded gambling was an option at our Ohio tracks.”
Ohio allocates funds to PASSPORT, which allows seniors to receive home-based care vs. having to enter a nursing home, every biennial state budget funding a specific number of enrollments. Primary funding comes from state Medicaid allocations. The state has estimated average annual care through PASSPORT to cost half of nursing home care, or about $23,702 per person.
“If attendance and wagering could be strengthened at Ohio tracks to levels of just a few years ago, contributions to PASSPORT could provide for more than 200 Ohio seniors to continue living at home,” Babst says.
Race purses at Ohio commercial tracks, lower than in surrounding states supported by additional gambling, continue to be squeezed by ongoing regional gambling expansion. To learn more about the impact of expanded gambling on Ohio’s equine industry, visit www.saveohioracing.com
|
|
HIGH PRESTIGE OF LITTLE BROWN JUG ECLIPSED BY HIGHER PURSE RACES
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: Sept. 18, 2007
Contact: Brent Wilder, 614.523.1497 (office), 614.338.9242 (mobile), bwilder@paulwerth.com
HIGH PRESTIGE OF LITTLE BROWN JUG ECLIPSED BY HIGHER PURSE RACES
Pacing Triple Crown event could find itself threatened by surrounding casino-supported stakes
The field at the Sept. 20 running of the 62nd Little Brown Jug will be racing for the top annual achievement in harness racing for three-year-old pacers, but not the top money. Expanded gambling in other standardbred racing states has escalated purses outside the Pacing Triple Crown to more than double what the Little Brown Jug can offer.
The Little Brown Jug’s 2006 purse of $541,000 can’t compare to other key races in the season:
• $1 million purses at the Art Rooney Pace at Yonkers Raceway in New York and the Meadowlands Pace at Meadowlands Racetrack in New Jersey, and
• A $1.5 million purse at the North American Cup at Mohawk Raceway in Ontario.
Purses at the Meadowlands Pace and North American Cup races are so dramatically higher that the Triple Crown legs surrounding the Little Brown Jug are in real jeopardy of being replaced by them.
“Right now the Little Brown Jug offers a purse in line with the rest of the Pacing Triple Crown,” says Jerry Knappenberger, general manager of the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association. “The Cane Pace ran this year for $300,000 and the Messenger Stakes will run for about the same as the Jug purse or a little higher. But if the Jug were suddenly surrounded by purses twice as high in the rest of the Triple Crown, it would be at a major disadvantage in maintaining its reputation as the premiere race of the year.”
Furthermore, Knappenberger says, the Messenger Stakes could claim that if races in the Triple Crown are under scrutiny for replacement, it should be retained because of its ability to run at slots gambling-supported Yonkers Raceway.
“Yonkers already supports one of the top purses in the racing season,” Knappenberger says. “Because of slots gambling there the race track could help support the Messenger Stakes purse so it could get closer to $1 million. The Little Brown Jug doesn’t have that option because there is no other money source to increase its purse.”
In 2006 the Little Brown Jug stakes fell to a 12-year low. The last time the Jug ran for less than $541,000 was in 1994’s $512,830 stakes. The Jug depends on its continuing prestige to generate competitive purses, because the nomination and sustaining fees of would-be participants provide the bulk of the prize money. The Little Brown Jug and Delaware County Agricultural societies only have betting handle contributions from the Delaware County Fair racing slate, plus minimal state support from the Ohio Fairs Fund, to further increase the purse.
“The Little Brown Jug will continue, but its status is at risk,” Knappenberger says. “If Ohio wants to preserve one of the state’s top annual attractions, it needs to take a look again at expanded gambling. There’s just no other way to get purses back in line with races in other states.”
The average purse per standardbred race is $3,909, vs. the national average of $7,684 and well below the average of $14,245 at tracks with purses supported by expanding gambling.
|
|
OHIO HORSE RACING DECLINE HURTS COUNTY FAIR BUDGETS
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: August 30, 2007
Contact: Kristin Mack, 614.224.8114 (office), 614.975.4186 (cell), kmack@paulwerth.com
Downloadable Fair Funds Pdf Graphic
Downloadable Fair Fund Excel File
OHIO HORSE RACING DECLINE HURTS COUNTY FAIR BUDGETS
Lowered attendance at commercial tracks means less money for county fair operations, races
State contributions to county fair operations through the Ohio Fairs Fund have declined by almost $1 million since 2000, a decline of about 32 percent, as a direct result of less betting activity at Ohio’s seven commercial horse race tracks.
Twelve percent of Ohio’s Fairs Fund money is distributed among Ohio’s 94 county and independent fair operators, and can provide a significant portion of total funding to smaller fair budgets. The 2006 Ohio Fairs Fund totaled $1,922,214, based on taxes on 2006 betting at commercial tracks, down from $2,856,291 in 2000. The last time the Fairs Fund fell under $2 million was in 1978.
“This is real money that our Ohio fairs count on,” says John Mossbarger, past president of the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association. “At its highest point, the Ohio Fairs Fund directed $30,000 to every Ohio fair. In 2006, it fell to $20,449.”
The Ohio legislature created the Fairs Fund in 1957. The tax on betting, or handle, at commercial race tracks funded $453,530 in its first year. The fund reached $1 million in 1968, $2 million in 1978 and $3 million in 1988 before peaking at $3.07 million in 1989.
“The lion’s share of state support for Ohio fairs comes from the Fairs Fund,” Mossbarger says. “For all of our fairs, $10,000 is a lot of money that they definitely miss.”
Ohio fairs provide a platform for some of the nation’s premier harness racing, including the second leg of the Pacing Triple Crown, the Little Brown Jug at the Delaware County Fair. The 62nd Little Brown Jug is Sept. 20. Seventy Ohio agricultural societies conduct horse races among the 94 county and independent fairs throughout Ohio.
“Harness racing is an Ohio tradition best known through the Little Brown Jug, that brings tens of thousands of visitors to the best-attended harness race in the world,” Mossbarger says. “But both new and old fans can experience it at 69 other fairs in every part of Ohio. I hope our legislators will realize the importance of horse racing at fair and commercial tracks so we can preserve it before it is too late.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Race purses at Ohio commercial tracks, lower than in surrounding states supported by additional gambling, continue to be squeezed by ongoing regional gambling expansion. To learn more about the impact of expanded gambling on Ohio’s equine industry, visit www.saveohioracing.com
|
|
AROUND OHIO, GAMBLING NOOSE TIGHTENS
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: July 30, 2007
Contact: Kristin Mack, 614.224.8114 (office), 614.975.4186 (cell), kmack@paulwerth.com
AROUND OHIO, GAMBLING NOOSE TIGHTENS
Border, nearby states advance toward gambling expansion at horse race tracks, other venues
COLUMBUS, OHIO - Ohioans will soon have more gambling play options directly across the border in West Virginia – and with Kentucky voters likely to face a gambling expansion issue in 2008, the state is becoming increasingly strangled by surrounding gaming venues attracting Ohio residents and their spending money.
With slots gambling already in play at venues in Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and Ontario, Ohio’s horse racing industry is carefully watching expanded gaming advances in these and other states. Except in Michigan, state slots gaming revenue supports its horse racing industry with money for purse prizes, providing a competitive advantage Ohio can’t match.
_______________________________________________________
Indiana
May legislation approving 4,000 new slots split between Indiana’s two horse race tracks is expected to result in expanded Indiana gambling as soon as late 2007, when slots are anticipated to open for play at Indiana Downs in Shelbyville. Hoosier Park in Anderson is expected to complete construction on its new slots parlor in 2008. Slots are already operating at 10 Indiana casinos, including three venues that attract heavy Cincinnati-area traffic.
West Virginia
This summer, Ohio County has approved table gaming for its greyhound racino in Wheeling and Hancock County has approved it for Mountaineer Racetrack and Gaming Resort in Chester, both nearby gaming destinations for Ohioans. The issue is expected to pass in Kanawha County’s Aug. 11 vote due to the strong support of local Charleston-area elected officials and economic leaders to add table gaming to the greyhound racino there. The local issue did not pass in Jefferson County, home of Charles Town Races and Slots, but can be brought before voters again in two years. Gambling expansion in nearby Maryland is anticipated to be taking effect by that time. All West Virginia racetracks already have slots.
Kentucky
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Steve Beshear, who is narrowly leading incumbent Ernie Fletcher in the polls, has made expanded gaming in Kentucky a key part of his platform. Beshear is committed to the immediate ballot placement of a constitutional amendment issue so voters can decide whether to approve slots gambling at Kentucky horse race tracks and possibly other limited venues. Any initiative would add slots across the Ohio River from Cincinnati at Florence’s Turfway Park.
-MORE-
New Jersey
Atlantic City casino subsidies to the state’s four horse race tracks expire this year, and the tracks are now looking to add slots of their own. The New Jersey Department of Agriculture in conjunction with the state horse industry has presented the findings of a commissioned study on its economic importance to the governor and legislature for consideration for action. Acting on the governor’s direction, the state’s treasury department is studying the potential impact of racetrack slots and is scheduled to release a report later this summer.
Maryland
Facing a budget shortfall, Maryland’s legislature is anticipated to introduce some form of slots legislation in the near future. Maryland’s governor has publicly expressed support for slots, which would be added at the state’s six horse race tracks and potentially to additional locations. Key legislators are threatening to withhold support for any state tax increase without slots approval.
Illinois
House Bill 480, which would have expanded limited slots gaming to Illinois’ seven horse race tracks, is effectively dead in committee. Slots gaming expansion is still on the table as the state determines its budget future, and may or may not include expansion to race tracks.
_______________________________________________________
Ohio horse racing is handicapped by the best horses, along with racing and breeding operations, pulling up stakes for other states with higher purses. As more racing states add gambling, Ohio competitiveness will continue to dwindle unless the state implements a solution allowing Ohio to keep up in the race.
To speak with an Ohio horse racing industry source for comments on pending gambling expansion in other states, contact:
Paul Werth Associates
Robin Hepler/Kristin Mack
614.224.8114
rhepler@paulwerth.com/kmack@paulwerth.com
|
|
OHIO RACING FOAL DECLINE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE IN 2007
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: July 30, 2007
Contact: Kristin Mack, 614.224.8114 (office), 614.975.4186 (cell), kmack@paulwerth.com
Decline Graphic Downloadable PDF
OHIO RACING FOAL DECLINE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE IN 2007
Breeders shipping top stallions out of state to better racing markets
The 47 percent decline in thoroughbred foal production over the past 10 years is expected to continue in 2007, with low mid-year thoroughbred foal registrations a troubling sign for the year’s anticipated production. Ohio’s standardbred breeders expect a similar decline to continue in their industry, jeopardizing the estimated 16,000 Ohio jobs tied to the state’s $730 million horse racing industry.
Thoroughbred foal registrations have dropped in Ohio from 611 foals in 1997 to 292 foals in 2006, and production is expected to remain flat in 2007. The January-July registration totals of 19 accredited foals and 19 Ohio-foaled thoroughbreds are in line with the January-July 2006 registration totals of 16 accredited foals and 17 Ohio-foaled thoroughbreds.
The standardbred sector of the Ohio equine industry is also anticipating flat or lower registrations for 2007, and is awaiting the results of the mares bred reports that must be filed by Sept. 1. Since 1995, there has been a 36 percent decrease in Ohio standardbred foal production, from 1,950 to 1,468 in 2006.
“Thoroughbred breeders have several months before they have to register their foals, but an extremely low number of registrations this time of year tends to indicate the total registrations will also be low,” says Betty Alexander, president of Ohio Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners. “These numbers don’t surprise me. Raising an Ohio foal doesn’t make any sense when the surrounding states have much better breeding programs than we do.”
Alexander, who owns a thoroughbred farm in Chesterland, Ohio, said one of her top breeding stallions has been relocated to Kentucky, largely driven by the drop in Ohio track competitiveness. Ohio purses, an average of $7,684, ranks 26th out of the 30 states that allow racing.
John Mossbarger, past president of the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association and a standardbred breeder from Washington Court House, says his farm’s breeding revenue is down nearly 50 percent this year, as many key breeders have moved to Pennsylvania and Indiana, states that recently pumped millions into race purses to boost their equine industry. One of the stallions previously housed at Mossbarger’s farm now stands in Pennsylvania.
“Standardbred breeders have seen a marked decrease in bookings since the defeat of the Issue 3 gambling expansion initiative in November,” says John Mossbarger, past president of the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association. “Issue 3 would have funded higher purses and breed funds through slots gambling at Ohio horse race tracks. We will see a real drop in the foal rate in 2008, when the decrease will correspond to the impact of Ohio mares that went unbred in 2007.”
By contrast, Indiana, which added slots gambling in 1995 to boost race purses, has had a 350 percent increase in standardbred production since then. Tracks will soon get even more purse money through their own slots, legalized this year. Ohio’s average standardbred race purse is $3,909, below the national average of $6,335 and far below the average of $14,245 at tracks with purse revenue supported by other gambling.
-----
Thoroughbred production and purse figures are reported from the Ohio State Racing Commission and standardbred production and purse figures are reported from the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association.
To learn more about the impact of expanded gambling in surrounding states on Ohio’s equine industry, visit www.saveohioracing.com
|
|
|