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Originally Posted by Cannon Shell
If you think slots hurt the sport if we have control of them then what will it be like if they are just direct competition?
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I don't think that slots are injurious to the sport in and of themselves. It's like holding a hammer in your hand -- the hammer could be used to build a house or hit someone over the head. The hammer itself is nuetral; the way it is used defines it as being good or bad.
I just think that slots, in the long run, won't save the sport against the other competition for the gambling dollar that you mention. And I don't want to see horse racing become a secondary interest at race tracks. Unless the racing product is promoted as something of value itself, then racetracks will simply turn into slots parlors, with less and less money dedicated to racing and, eventually, the replacement of racing altogether for the more profitable business of slots. Just imagine how many machines you could fit at Belmont if you paved over the track.
For the moment, tracks should take all the money they can get out of slots. But with that money, the sport of horse racing should be promoted so that it can stand up by itself, without the crutch that slots really are.