Support grows for Belmont slot machines

[ShadowRoll]

[quote=MaTH716]

Originally Posted by ShadowRoll

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.

I don't think that you can look at it as secondary intrest. You are going to have people there for the slots and have people there for the horses. For the 5 hours that there is live racing, hopefully it will be promoted enough that some of the slot people might show an intrest and bet a few races. Maybe you will even get a few to become fans of the sport. The important thing is to get them to the venue. Bottom line is that all these people are GAMBLERS. Don't forget a lot of that older slot crowd are degenerate number players. So who is to say that before some of these people hit the slot room they go to the window and put in triples for every race. They want action too. They will never be fans of the sport or love it like people on this site, but they will be involved. Let's face it even the most die hard of fan doesn't want to go to Aqueduct in February. So if you could have another means of entertainment for people and money from that will be going into the pot to support the industry, what's wrong with that? You are not going to lose the segment of people that go to the track that loves racing to the slots. If anything they might stay longer or bring other people with them.

I believe that there is very little cross-over from slots players to horse players. For the most part, the type of people that enjoy pulling a handle (or pushing a button, nowadays) aren't the type of people who enjoy learning how to read and then interpreting the DRF.

But I'm not concerned about how many people might happen to look out the window of the slots parlor and notice that there's a race track outside (and then be intrigued enough to do something about it). I think this number is too low to make much of a difference. What I'm really concerened about is the track management, who see unbelieveable profit from the slots (at least for the moment, until everyone gets them and the competition causes profits to level off), and then see a sickly racing product that is marginally profitable at best. Without someone demanding that the racing aspect of the track not be forgotten, it will be the natural inclination to lessen, not increase, promotion of racing since the promotion money is better spent on the more successful product (i.e. slots). Money should be spent to get people to come to the race track for the express purpose of playing the races. It's simply too risky for the future of racing to hope that people who are there for the purpose of playing the slot machines might also try a bet on a horse race.

I used to work at an independent book store that was an icon in the town where I grew up. A new owner came in and saw that the office supply business and the gift business were far more profitable in terms of mark-up. Eventually, he phased out the books entirely (even though the word "bookstore" was part of the store's name). Finally, the store closed, and this icon, which was doing business in my home town years before I was born, was gone forever. By then, of course, it didn't matter -- the only thing that was interesting to me was the books, anyway.

Horse racing may not be a secondary interest at the tracks with slots at this point in time, but it could become so in the future, unless the slots money is reinvested into revitalizing an interest in the sport. Increased purses are all well and good, but it's the public who need to be wooed, not just the owners and trainers. Fat purses at the expense of increasing the allure of the racing product is a short-sighted road to disaster. It doesn't work to feed a select few while letting the masses starve. Unless your attitude is "let them eat cake."