$10mm to Arlington

Churchill Downs Inc.’s Chicago-area racetrack will receive an estimated $10 million boost each of the next two years under a new subsidy from riverboat casinos.

About 60 percent of the money that Arlington Park will get must be used to boost purses. The remainder can be used for marketing and capital improvements.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed the subsidy into law on Friday.

The law requires Illinois’ four largest riverboat casinos to pay 3 percent of their adjusted gross receipts to a Horse Racing Equity Trust Fund, the governor’s office said in a statement. That is expected to yield $36 million a year, but the subsidy expires after two years.

Between 1992, when riverboat-gambling first operated a full year, and last year, Illinois on-track wagering decreased 42 percent to $482 million, according to the Illinois legislature.

Courtesy of the Courier-Journal

this is true, but the law is long passed due,
does this mean that AP, americas largest horse zoo,
(ain;t no racing going out there) will increase it dirt racing, NO.

what they will do is hire some more relatives at absorbinant salaries and increase the millions purse to 2 million.

[Scav]

Hopefully there is a check with Scav's name on it for losses from crap racing the last five years

[disappearingdan_akaplaya]

well as a owner and a fan here in illinois i was very pleased to see it finally get done but this is not the be all end all of our many probs here in ILL racing. we got alotta "alleged" corruption within the ITHA and way too many politics here dealing with individual gain and not the gain of ILL racing as a whole.


paul what is your fetish with dirt racing at arlington? yeah id love to see a huge race at arlington but its not the bread and butter of the meet, turf racing is what put the place on the map. we got almost all spring and the majority of the fall meet with predominately dirt racing

what do you mean fettish,

heck i just want one good weekend with couple of good stakes races on the dirt. look at the belmont undercard for 6-10,
look at the first stakes weekend at toga,
the cal cup day card.
why cqn't we have a series on the dirt, like the strub serries.
its not my fetish its what fans want,
300,000 fans show up live and in person to watch less than 4 minutes of racing, The KD And Preakness,what do we get, a fivew horse filed in the Hanshin stakes that has to be polluted by the huge suburbanite egos out there with a needlss DQ.

that track is beautifull its mismanaged as all hell, has asways been, it needs to be moved or changed.

i had such a bad time there just wondering aroung on mondaylokking for a decent race.
the card was crap.there is no reason to go there !!!

its a horse zoo kept open for the tax benefits of Magna and the owners who get the non cah deductions, like depreciation.

[disappearingdan_akaplaya]

magna and stronach have ZERO to do with arlington paul....wrong corp! ok when as in what exact dat o you propose a G1 dirt event at arlington. you have to also plan around other tracks and what big dirt races theyre going to run so you can attract a top quality field or else youll wind up with a second tier quality field which is what the ILL derby is every year

[Scav]

it would have to be the weekend after the Kentucky Derby, that would be best spot for it, or on Million Day, which would be absolutely awesome, if that were to happen

[Scurlogue Champ]

Originally Posted by Secretariat

this is true, but the law is long passed due,
does this mean that AP, americas largest horse zoo,
(ain;t no racing going out there) will increase it dirt racing, NO.

what they will do is hire some more relatives at absorbinant salaries and increase the millions purse to 2 million.

What the **** does "absorbinant" mean???

Did you mean "exorbitant?"

Good one Badmood.

I was going to start posting here regularly but if people are going to misspell words forget it.

Casinos' suit: Taxing us for horse racing is illegal

it will be awhile before the money is gotten


http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/h..._CASINO_S1.htm

JOLIET — The Empress Casino and Harrah's Joliet Casino & Hotel are plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed Tuesday to stop a new casino tax that would send money to the horse racing industry.

The Joliet casinos, along with Hollywood Casino in Aurora and the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin, contend they were unconstitutionally singled out to pay the tax in order to get political support from downstate legislators to pass the law authorizing the tax.

The tax, which raises $36 million a year for the horse racing industry, does not apply to the five other Illinois casinos that are outside of the Chicago area.

The lawsuit, filed in Will County Circuit Court, comes four days after Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed the legislation authorizing the tax. At the time, Blagojevich and legislators from the St. Louis metropolitan area pointed out the special benefits for the Fairmount Park racetrack in Collinsville.

In turn, the lawsuit contends Fairmount gets a disproportionate share of the money despite its distance from the casinos that must pay the tax.

"Fairmount is 250 miles away from the nearest casinos required to pay the surcharge," said Eric Schippers, a spokesman for Penn National Gaming, which owns the Empress and Hollywood Casino.

Schippers pointed out that the Casino Queen in East St. Louis, only 10 miles from Fairmount, and the Alton Belle, only 25 miles away, don't have to pay the tax.

"Clearly the legislative history reflects that votes were to be garnered by excluding the five other casinos," Schippers said. "When all the casinos were included earlier, the vote failed."

A revised version of the tax was passed May 4 late in the afternoon just before the General Assembly adjourned for the spring.

Casinos blasted the legislation as an unfair tax of one industry to support another.

The horse racing industry, however, has argued that the tax makes up for missed benefits that were to come to the tracks in 1999 legislation that established a 10th casino license, dock-side gaming and other benefits to the casino industry.

Because of problems associated with the 10th casino license, the financial benefits for the horse racing industry never developed, said Marc Laino, executive director of the Illinois Racing Board.

The casinos "reaped all the benefits from that legislation," Laino said. "Here we are six years later, and the horse industry doesn't see any relief."

The lawsuit itself may delay the benefits of the legislation, as well. The casinos are paying the tax under protest, and the lawsuit requests that the taxes be held in a special protest fund until the legal challenge is resolved.

The lawsuit contends the tax is unconstitutional primarily because:

• It violates the Takings Clause of the Illinois Constitution by compelling the casinos "to directly subsidize a less successful competitor's operations."

• It violates the Uniformity Clause of the Illinois Constitution and equal protection rights under both the state and federal constitution. "In order to secure the votes necessary to pass the Act, the sponsors exempted the five riverboats located in downstate Illinois from the surcharge," the lawsuit states.

• It amounts to "unconstitutional special legislation, which is designed to benefit particular racetrack owners in a way that is not rationally related to any legitimate state purpose."

Blagojevich issued a statement as he signed the legislation saying the tax would "help protect the jobs of thousands of hardworking people who depend on the horse racing industry for their livelihood" and "create a more level playing field that will allow the horse racing industry to remain competitive in Illinois."

Abby Ottenhoff, a spokeswoman for the governor, said Tuesday she had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment on it.

But, she said, "We feel that the revenue sharing law is legal. Beyond that, it's critical to the struggling horse-racing industry in Illinois that employs 40,000 people."

05/31/06

Originally Posted by disappearingdan_akaplaya

magna and stronach have ZERO to do with arlington paul....wrong corp! ok when as in what exact dat o you propose a G1 dirt event at arlington. you have to also plan around other tracks and what big dirt races theyre going to run so you can attract a top quality field or else youll wind up with a second tier quality field which is what the ILL derby is every year

what was i thinking i meant churchill, opps...