M.J.C. slashes purses/stakes
 

Maryland racing is in serious trouble, once the Pa tracks are benefiting from slot income this proud racing community may whither and die!

Somer...this intrigues me as I wonder what kind of affect this will have on the Colonial meet. Longer meet?

possibly! The "Bible Thumpers" have made Maryland a battleground fighting the war about evil slots...unless they can compete with all the surrounding states, I see little hope...it's a shame cause racing in Maryland was once first class. Maybe when faced with the loss of thousands of jobs, the people of Md will come to their senses like they did in Jefferson County WVa!

Heaven knows I always look forward to the Timonium Fair meet.


COME ONE....COME ALL...TIMONIUM RACE TRACK....the home on the 3 turn 6 furlong sprint.:D :D

I don't think its so much the people of Maryland as it is its legislators. PA gets slots, and from what i hear WV is getting closer to getting table games. If slots don't get passed in the next 2 years i predict that Laurel will have to close up shop (and the only reason why is say that is b/c they have that preakness thing at pimlico), and that would be a shame b/c of all that money Franky and his crew just dumped into the laurel facility. I thought/ think they would have to cut dates now or in the near future as appose to slashing purses. As far as VA goes, slots will not be allowed in the neck of the woods. Can't say this helps VA's casue considering they pretty much have the same horses competing in MD down in VA for their meet, and they have already slashed purses like the VA debry, etc.

either way, Maryland is in trouble.......

-bt-

Maryland racing and breeding were at the top of the heap in Colonial days, still a major force earlier in the 20th Century, producing horses like Challedon and Gallorette. Sagamore Farm's stallions Discovery and Native Dancer were the equal of any in Kentucky. Then Windfields located its US branch in Md, and they had the best stallion in the world, Northern Dancer, and a roster of other top ones.

I went racing at Bowie, a charming little track, never understood why they closed it. Good horses came up from Florida for the Campbell when it was run there. And the name Havre de Grace shows up in the PPs of many a great one of the past. My 1942 AMerican Racing Manual shows 9 tracks in Maryland -Pimlico, Laurel, Bowie, Malrboro, Timonium, Bel Air, Havre de Grace, Hagerstown, and Cumberland. Some were fairs, of course, but racing was more distributed geographically in those days; only the Eastern Shore had no recognized TB track.

I don't think it has anything to do with bible thumpers. I think it has everything to do with politics.

No..there were a number of articles in local newspapers and on local TV about religious groups from all over the nation targeting Maryland to make a stand against the Devil's toys (slots). Gotta make a stand somewhere against folks going astray...today slots, tomorrow, mass murder or worst yet, sex.

it's politics and legislators. the big city counties control the votes. they want to pass slots for the 2 races track only. the other counties vote against it because they want thier cuts and jobs. cumberland and frostburg in far western md, could desperately use the jobs. i'm sure the eastern shore could use the jobs too. the only OTB west of the 2 tracks is frederick they want slots. so on one can agree on who gets slots and who doesn't. there is to much "if i don't get them you don't either".

the counties with the big cities, their legislators don't come to western md so they don't grasp the idea that i can be in pa or wv in 10 minutes.
baltimore county should understand, everyone that lives down there goes to delaware on a regular basis. you just can't make the knuckleheads in annapolis understand.:mad:

Isn't there a way to bypass the legislature by doing a ballot initiative? If the people of Maryland could get a slots proposal on the ballot, wouldn't it take all the "annapolis knuckleheads" out of the equation?

Who really cares if Maryland racing crashes and burns? It can only help the industry to eliminate tracks.

the wv table games bill passed sunday....construction has already begun

it's just not a big enough issue here until it's gone. no one pays any attention to it until there is some type of vote in annapolis. both tracks are in the baltimore county area and most the big horse farms to the northeast of Baltimore county going towards delaware have been sold off and developed. even carrol county and most of southern md farms are gone. the land is worth just sick amounts of money.
i live 1 minute from the old hagerstown track. it's been turned into a recreation area with softball and soccer fields.

it failed in jefferson county, thats where CT is. was it passed in the mountaineer area?

I believe it failed at Charlestown but passed at Wheeling.

--Dunbar

It's got everything to do with Bible thumping and "family values".

I live in MD. Trust me, the knee-jerk reaction is that slots means gambling makes for sinners in the hands of an angry god. This state is run by soccer moms and dads. Period. They are so freaked out by the notion of slots/gambling that they're willing to forego roughly 50% of the revenue slated for education.

Here's the latest accounting by the Baltimore Sun:
Joined by their highest-ranking advocate, Comptroller Peter Franchot, Stop Slots Maryland advocates gathered at an Annapolis-area church yesterday to resume their push to block gambling. Leaders said they were bankrupt and that supporters had scattered, but that they would turn to religious groups across the state, and even Republican lawmakers, for help.

They would turn to religious groups, sure, but for the last five years, religious groups have nothing to do with why there aren't slots in Maryland. Former Governor Ehrlich - a Republican - was the world's biggest proponent of slots, and the state legislature refused to go along with any plan that came from the governor.

Religious groups may be a factor now, but they certainly weren't a factor at any point in the last five years.

Paris Glendenning!

-bt-

I would like to see racing on national tv.
I can't see how a sport "needs" slots and they aren't using the mass media. It's ass backwards to me, but I am probably just wrong and ill informed.

I think the NBA or NFL would fail if they had racing's use of mass media. I think mass media is how they prospered.

NYRA, Churchill, Keeneland, SoCal, Oaklawn.

Best race meets which have one other thing in common... no slots. The tracks with artificial slot purses really do nothing other than support bad horses and their owners, trainers, etc.... All the BS about Slots = Higher Purses = Better Horses = Increased Handle is trash.

Hell, Gulfstream projected revenue of $600 a day per machine. They got $250. Can't say I feel sorry for them. Anybody who puts a dime into one of those things is a damn fool.

Bada Bing! He was the champion of the anti-slots movement....basically pandered to the family values set.

We had this same type of debate here in Detroit about 10 years ago. The anti-gambling movement was able to successfully head off casino gambling for many years using the "family values morality" argument. Then a funny thing happened: the government of Ontario opened a casino right across the river from Detroit. People realized that the casino gambling couldn't be stopped and really it was only a question of where the money was going to be spent-- over there (Canada) or over here (Detroit). When people realized it was probably better to keep the money here instead of flowing over to Canada, casino gambling was approved in spite of the anti-gambling crowd.

I'm surprised that legislators in Maryland would rather watch those slot dollars go to Pennsylvania and Delaware instead of legalizing it in the Old Line State and collecting tax revenue from it. Of course, it wouldn't be the first time politicians have acted illogically . . . :rolleyes:

Just a follow-up to my last post:

Michigan recently had a proposal on the ballot to legalize racinos. Guess who fought it? The casino industry actually teamed up with the remnants of the anti-gambling crowd to kill the proposal. Talk about politics making "strange bedfellows" . . . Needless to say, the casinos with all their cash were able to defeat racino movement. Not so coincidentally, this will be the last racing season at Great Lakes Downs.

the people from the baltimore area and the eastern shore all drive to delaware on a regular basis. people in central and western Md go to charles town.
the last time we were on the eastern shore of Md, we were at breakfast and two buses pulled in. a group from the eastern shore of virginia on the way to delaware, just stop in maryland for a bit to eat.

STS, that's like saying that anyone who bets a dime on a horse is a damn fool. There are knowledgeable bettors who do quite well at video poker. And luck has nothing to do with their success. They know how to combine the strategy of the game with cashback and other perks to produce a longterm profit. Very much like what successful cappers do.

Now if you said that 99.9% of the people who play slots are playing a losing game, I'd agree whole-heartedly. But I could say the same thing about betting horses.

--Dunbar

When Wheeling got slots, it turned their horrible greyhound racing facility into one of the best in the country, with the best quality dogs, best trainers, and biggest slot-engorged purses, and now is A rated all the way. Local economy in Wheeling benefitted greatly from that, and is still doing so today.

And the parking lots are full of vehicles with Ohio plates.

Totally disgusted me that we could not get Issue 3 passed in Ohio last year, especially with the amount of money that would have gone to secondary education. I was a huge supporter of the bill there, even had a slot of ATRAB to try to drum up support, but our bill was eventually killed, not as much by the religious supporters but by the notion that "7 wealthy racetracks would only benefit". Those being places like Beulah, Scioto Downs, and River Downs (none of which I would call wealthy tracks).

I wish Maryland all the luck in the world in getting the slot machines at their tracks, as they should have the chance to compete with surrounding states on a level playing field...

ALostTexan

in the long run, those who are able to get slots will be right back where they started, with everyone fighting for the gambling dollars....getting slots doesn't mean one will succeed, but by the same token, maryland without them is fighting an uphill battle.
louisiana really siphoned off a lot of arkansas breeders when they got slots, oaklawn turned around and got their instant racing machines, which helped...

Byalip,

You may live in Maryland but you clearly don't have a grasp on the slots situation, i.e., why they haven't been passed. A few here have it right - it is purely a political issue that has been firmly obstructed by the Speaker of MD's House - Michael Busch. The Senate President, Mike Miller, claims to be a "friend" of Md racing and has supported slots and has pushed a few bills through his chamber the last few years only to be rebuffed by The Obstructionist. With a Republican Gov the previous 4 years, and the Democrat Obstructionist, slots were never going to get passed - MD Dem's simply would never allow a Republican Gov to accomplish anything.

Your highlighting of the bible thumping crowd really doesn't play into the deal. Yes, the church will always cry out against gambling and there are some MD church leaders decrying the evils of slots - and then they call their next bingo number. The church, some civic leaders, etc are but a small vocal minority - ankle biters, I call them. But the main roadblock, until now has been the Obstructionist Busch.

But, a new Dem Gov was just elected so now the tide seems to be changing for the call for slots. The state is facing a huge budget deficit next year so suddenly, Ob Busch finding slots much more palatable. No doubt, giving a Dem Gov the chance to claim victory in the slots issue make them more tasty too.

In the end, it's the shortsighted leadership and failings of the Maryland horsemen and the MJC that is to blame. The horsemen's refusal to shorten their meets substantially to preserve purses is a major downfall. All the past few years there has been tremendous resistance by a number of the elected directors (owners, trainers) that sit on the MD Horsemen's Association to reduce racing dates. Their cry was that they needed to have year round racing to preserve there family life. Funny thing is, most of those whiners are the ones that were first to start taking stalls at Delpark, Gulfstream, FairGrounds, etc. - they couldn't wait to jump ship.

MJC shares the blame too. They are the poorest bunch of managers ever to see the face of the earth. They spent millions to rebuild the Laurel dirt and turf course, especially the turf course. But, when does the bulk of the Lau meet run? During the winter. So, what Einstein is responsible for that great decision? Each year since the turf course has been open, the fall meet has done tremendous business and their handle has greatly improved. But as soon as they come off the turf for the winter, the bottom drops out. Seems to me an adjustment of racing dates is in order to capitalize on the turf course.

MJC could exploit the OTB market in MD by requesting a repeal of the OTB law that prohibits an OTB be placed within a 30 mie radius of any racetrack. That means no OTB's anywhere except the eastern shore, far south MD, of west of Frederick. They should have one or two tv's, and an autotote machine, in every bar and restaurant in the state broadcasting live racing. They have a stupid computer generated horse racing keno game in every place so why not live racing? Because they are too stupid to do it.

They'll never do any of this though - they are all too busy standing on the street corner with their hands stuck out waiting for slot money.