Over the past several years the horseracing industry in most parts of the world has been in decline. This is due to several factors, one of them being the increasing variety of options for spending gambling dollars. As track operations face bankruptcy, some have been given the opportunity to turn around their business by becoming racinos offering slot machines to supplement track income. Others are still fighting to change state laws to benefit the racing industry, a vital part of some local economies.

In Kentucky this February a bill calling for casinos at eight racetracks was introduced. The Kentucky Equine Education Project (KEEP) has long campaigned for allowing casino gaming at the state’s racetracks and calls for a voter referendum to amend the state constitution. The expanded bill was defeated but KEEP will continue to press for the issue to get to the ballot boxes. Texas is considered the leading horse state in the US and rising costs mean that many in the industry there want slot machines allowed at racetracks. In Maryland slot machine legislation was rejected by the General Assembly for the third year, despite versions of the bill being passed in both House and Sennate.

In Florida’s Broward County four pari-mutuels will be operating slot machines, including the Gulfstream Park thoroughbred and Pompano Park harness tracks. This was approved in a referendum despite opposition from much of the Florida legislature. Pennsylvania is in the process of granting licences for gaming at its racetracks, following in the footsteps of Delaware, Iowa, Louisiana, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island and West Virginia.

Illinois has now found a new way to help ailing racetracks. The Legislature has agreed a contentious deal to divert some profits from casinos in Elgin, Aurora and Joliet into a 2-year subsidy for Illinois tracks. Fairmount Park in Collinsville could be eligible for as much as US$4 million in the first year, from the anticipated annual US$36 million raised. Five years ago Fairmount hosted 200 racing days but now only 90, and purses have dropped by 70% since the 1990s.

A recent study estimated that 1.4 million jobs depend on the horse industry and that it contributes some US$39 billion to the US economy. If indirect costs are taken into account, then the total economic impact rises to US$102 billion. The agreement in Illinois, tweaking the free market economy, is seem by some as targeting one sector of the gambling industry at the expense of another. In states where casino gaming is allowed, this could be preferable to competition from racetrack slots operations. One thing is certain, the racing industry as a whole will continue to press for legislative changes that will allow it to remain a viable part of the gaming scene. (E-05.05.06)

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