Woodbine cuts ties with Empire
 

http://www.drf.com/news/article/89617.html

Certainly not a surprise. I thought this would have happened sooner. Woodbine, arguably, has a successful model -- a partnership with the provincial government, a successful VLT operation, dollars that fuel the purses and the racing side of the "facility", and an overall collaborative business/partnership model. I know there are plenty of people who will say that the quality of racing has declined, purses are "so-so" and so on.

Regardless, by the time all shakes out, perhaps Empire will stand along. Whether or not they have an interest in the VLT side of the equation, I don't know. Excelsior has said they don't. I guess as time goes on, we will see.

Eric

Does Empire still exist ?

There are talks about a merger between Empire and Capital Play.

Eric

I hear their first order of business will be to raise the takeout to 50% across the board.

Then step 2 would be to slash purses, i hear. Anything so that they can show a profit for the NYS Senate.