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Originally Posted by Revolution
Here it is
NYRA generates $31 million annually in taxes for state and local governments.
That is it. $31 million. Please. That is an absolute joke. $3.5 BILLION bet and the give less than 1% of it to the government.
http://albany.bizjournals.com/albany...3/daily27.html |
I am certainly not an expert in this arena, however, I think this is just one component. That figure might not include other fees and revenues generated by NYRA, paid to the state, etc.
But again, I think we need to look at this more globally. Of course many people bash the NY bred program, yet I think they do this in a very myopic way. In order to see the entire picture of the economic impact -- not only of the NY bred program, but from the NYRA perspective as well -- you would have to have to look at the global landscape. Be that as it may, again, I think we are missing the point. I posted about this on another thread, so I am going to cut/paste here.
I do not think we can automatically collapse the present situation with pointing exclusive blame at NYRA.
Regardless, everything we see today is not due to NYRA, corruption, management, etc. Today and the present situation is an accumulation of numerous aspects -- not only of NYRA, management, etc. -- but of the industry in general.
The business model in NY, as well as NY racing as a business and as a sport, has been broken for years. That is a reality. We didn't see any bidders wanting the franchise until the VLT legislation got passed. Nobody expressed interest until the actual VLT deal was made. There was no Empire or Excellsior. There is absolutely nobody who would be the slightest bit interested in the franchise if it wasn't for the VLT's (now, this might be if the land was up for grabs or perhaps OTB).
Now, in my opinion, this is reflective of a bigger issue. What everyone sees here is an alternative business model -- that is -- alternative revenue source(s) being available to fund the racing business. Keeneland gets a tremendous amount of money, revenue, directly from the sales company. Alternative revenue sources are very often ancillary, then becoming a primary solution to a present problem -- a problem where a business model is broken. Now that doesn't mean that VLT's are the solution to the racing industry because we know it is not. Yet VLT money will find its way into purse accounts. We also know the trickle-down, trickle-over, etc. effect will not happen.
But there is still a problem. More than one actually. What will still hurt is that the tax rate (for the VLT dollars) in NY is extremely high.
I mentioned it before, but look at Woodbine. Another case of alternative revenue source(s). What does their business model look like? A partnership between the government and the track. This has worked and is successful. It has had a very positive impact on purses. What has it done for pure racetrack attendance, handle, etc.? This is the dangerous aspect. Look at Finger Lakes -- management decides to invest $4m or so into the VLT side of the facility and goes against getting a turf course.
This was a ROI/ROR decision. Will this be Empire's mindset? What about Excellsior? Isn't this a for-profit mentality? Shareholders first. ROR/ROI first. Simply put, this situation is not simple at all.
Eric