Attendance Figures No More

With the opening of the Resorts World Casino at the Aqueduct Racetrack, another long standing tradition seems to have gone out the window.

Attendance figures are no longer tallied. You can't find the published attendance in your daily newspaper or on the Equibase Company LLC Charts.

Still staunchly old school, I look forward to my morning cup of coffee with a newspaper in hand before I even consider checking any website or twitter news feed. The sports section of the paper gets read first, including a look at the previous days track results.

But with the opening of the Resorts World Casino (or lets call it what it is-a glorified slots hall) and people (zombies?) wandering in from the slots hall there is no more accounting of actual track goers and hence no attendance figure published. You can still get an idea on who was there by looking at the On Track handle figure and backing into a number but where is the fun in that? I particularly liked checking attendance on the brutal winter days at the Big A marveling at the hearty souls who would show up to bet the ponies in person.

And going way back I remember when my local candy store in the Bronx used the last 3 digits of the attendance of the NYRA tracks for the "daily number". Most NYC "numbers" outfits would use the daily on track handle figure but the folks running this candy store numbers racket went with the attendance figure. As the mob still extends credit, unlike the NYS Lottery system, the numbers still have their loyal players- but it will have to be with the handle and not the attendance figure.

First Time, Long Time

Former New York Governor David Paterson will put on the Sports Talk Radio Host hat as he hosts a 3 hour shift on Sports talk radio Giant WFAN in New York this Monday from 10 pm until 1 am. For those not in the listening area you can hear it live on the web with this link.

Will be interesting to see if the call screener's let any questions on racing get through to the former Governor. With Politics and Horse Racing so incestuous in New York State, where you really can't talk about one without the other, I would love to see how candid Paterson would be.

He most likely will get peppered with a bunch of Yankees, Mets, Jets and Knicks questions but would love to hear him give his take on the background skinny on the VLT award to Genting and what really happened with the whole AEG fiasco.

This story plus questions on NYRA, takeout fees, the closing of the New York City OTB, the future of OTB's outside the city, the expected saturation of racino's and Indian casino's, and legislation and penalties for drug usage could take the whole 3 hours up.

But I'm not holding my breath.

Arrogance of Power

Joseph Fisch, New York State Inspector General has released his report on the Aqueduct Entertainment Group VLT fiasco and as expected, it is a treatise on New York State Politics and its corruption filled, lobbyist controlled, greed fiefdom.

One of the culprits slammed by the Inspector General includes State Senator Malcom D. Smith (D). Just how can these shenanigans involving our elected officials continue to occur in New York State?

Easy, when you are continually reelected no matter what you do in office a sense of entitlement reigns. This goes for both sides of the aisle, whether Democrat or Republican. The New York State Senate has members each elected to two year terms. There are no limits on the number of terms one may serve.

Senator Malcom D. Smith (D) has been a senator in the 14th district since 2001. Despite what can kindly be called a checkered career with many questionable activities, he wins all his reelections and ran unopposed in 2008. He is up for reelection this November. Should he win as expected, he enters his 10th year in office. This is par for the course in New York State, once you get it, you are basically in, provided you play the game and don't piss off your fellow long term incumbent fellow state politicians. The residents of New York State, the constituents they are elected to represent-they don't count.

For all the sleazy details, you can read the entire 304 page Inspector General report here.

Slots Welfare

Using the funds from casinos and VLT's to prop up horse racing has been described by some as "slots welfare" for racing. Well, who would have thought that some of the money spent on slots and at casinos is actually generated from our welfare system. The LA Times has reported that between January of 2007 and May 0f 2010 about $11 million dollars in cash was spent or withdrawn from California issued welfare aid debit cards in Las Vegas with $1 million spent directly on the Vegas Strip. Ya can't make this stuff up.

Maybe in a strange way this makes sense, the Taxpayer funds the welfare recipient who than spends his welfare cash at a slot machine to than fund an industry also in need of help.

In reaction to the Times article, The Schwarzenegger administration is now cutting off use of state-issued welfare debit cards at casinos across the country and on cruise ships.

Before we start amping up the NY Breds Program in anticipation of slot-infused mega purses, Maybe we should ask the New York candidates for Governor, Andrew Cuomo and Carl Paladino, their position on the use of welfare debit cards at the soon to be built Aqueduct VLT's.

Only in New York

Only in New York can someone make a deal with the state, have New York State than stiff you and you look like the bad guy. New York State has contractually owed money to NYRA since 03/31/10 but NYRA was given the big FU by the State and on top of that NYC-OTB has stopped paying what they owe to NYRA. Of course if you read any of the local news media comments sections online or the "letters to the Editor" section you would think NYRA officials are robbing the State instead of the other way around.

Tonight the NY State Senate and Assembly has passed an emergency extender budget bill which includes a $25 million loan to NYRA. Can you imagine some of the inane comments to follow in the coming days. Maybe one like this commenter to the Times Union who signed his comment "State Worker":

"I, like many colleagues, do not care if the racing season continues now or ever. It is unfortunate that state dollars are used to support an industry marked by poor management and NOT VITAL to the state’s long term interests while education and other prioroities(sic) suffer. Perhaps those currently in positions of leadership are blind to the depth of the public’s disappointment and distruct(sic) of their performance. I cannot support or condone the NYRA bailout while the state lacks a budget or vision for its fiscal welfare. It is time that we all share the pain and burden of corrective action and not cater to a few special interests."

Guess "State Worker" doesn't realize racing is a New York State Industry that pays almost 40 million in direct tax payments each year and millions more in state payroll taxes.

The $25 million dollar loan must be repaid by March 31, the end of this fiscal year, or 30 days after a deal with a VLT vendor is reached. Governor Paterson wants a deal by August. Any bets on when a VLT deal will actually happen? Only in New York.

NYRA gets bad break in Headline Games

Yesterday Jessica Chapel reported on the gross error in The Blood-Horse headline depicting Governor Paterson's comments that he is working on a "bailout" loan to the New York State Racing Association (NYRA). It is not a bailout, plain and simple. NYRA is only asking for money that was contractually promised to them by 3/31/10 should no VLT operation be in place by that date.

Now NYRA gets errantly slapped in the face again with the The Times Union (Albany, NY) headline in Today's print and online edition titled:

"Bailout Loan for NYRA in Works"

Worse yet, in the print edition of the paper, the same blaring headline ran in an "above the fold" story on Page one. How many people only read the headline and kept going, convinced in their mind that our State government is "bailing out" NYRA when all NYRA is asking is that the government meet their contractual obligation under the 2008 Franchise agreement and issue the money to NYRA that is legally owed to them.

I know times are tough in the media world, but they do pay headline editors still, don't they?

A month Away-what does the NY fan say?

With the Kentucky Derby now only a month away, and warm temperatures arriving this weekend in the Northeast, I wonder if enthusiasm will percolate for racing and this years run for the Triple Crown. At least on the east coast, with no clear cut beast this year amongst the tribe of Derby contenders, things seem a little muted.

But than again, maybe I am clouded by being a New York Resident, and stuck with daily morose headlines about racing in NY including the ongoing 9 year old VLT disgrace (Thank you Governor Pataki, Spitzer and Paterson and our State Legislature), the NYC OTB financial meltdown and diminishing purses at the 3 NYRA tracks.

It feels like a wet washcloth is constantly thrown upon the NY racing fan.

Tomorrow is one of the biggest days of the year at Aqueduct-the Wood Memorial. Unfortunately however, to go there almost seems like a cruel reminder of a track that should be filled and should have had slots installed years ago.

The only salvation will be the weather which promises to be a sunny day in the 70's (or maybe higher) so maybe that will be enough for 5000 or so fans to leave the political baggage behind and just come out to watch the horses run.

A State of Abeyance

March 10, 2010 is the 2 year anniversary of the revelation of former New York State Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s involvement with a prostitute. Soon thereafter the various problems of our fine empire state were passed on to Governor David Paterson. Upon the one year anniversary last year, when speaking about the possibility of video lottery terminals at Aqueduct Racetrack, I speculated that we would not see any ground being broken anytime soon.

Weird to think that Delaware North was still in the picture last year, it seems so long ago. Now one year later, Aqueduct Entertainment Group is in the picture and still we sit with shovel in one hand, and the other hand in an empty pocket.

Some Good News

As the Aqueduct VLT selection made by NY Gov. Paterson gets more bizarre by the day, it was nice to find something working right in New York State-a vocational training program run by the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation and the New York State Department of Corrections.

The story was first broadcast on local NBC news Channel 13 in Albany, NY (WNYT).

Who's on First-Governor Paterson says AEG

Here is the link to the Press Release from the Office of NY Governor Paterson naming Aqueduct Entertainment Group (AEG) to operate the Video Lottery Terminals at Aqueduct.

Where do we go from here. Well Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is already hedging, and I am sure more will follow with warnings, demands, negotiations which will then lead to more rumours, delays, back and forth accusations, delays, more delays, etc, etc, etc.

Maybe they meant the week after that

The Times Union headline on Saturday January 2, 2010 blared:
Governor promises decision on racino
than in smaller type:
Paterson says he will endorse a bid next week to install gambling terminals at Aqueduct Race Track.

I'm no expert on what "next week" means but using a Gregorian calender would it not be the week beginning January 3rd and ending January 9th?

Seemed strange that NY Governor David Paterson would force the issue of naming a slots operator the week of 1/3/10-1/9/10, especially with his State of the State address this week keeping him busy. And in reading the Times Union article and other publications, I could not find any actual quote where Paterson says he will endorse one of the bidders this week. What he actually was quoted in the Times Union article was this:

"If the two other leaders cannot come to a conclusion and a decision about which group should be the sponsoring organization, then I think I'll be forced, as I did last year, to announce my group and hope to persuade the two other leaders"

Who knows, maybe something will come from Paterson today, or tomorrow, but for now round and round the merry go round we go.

New York Racing-50 years ago & Today

Sometimes things really don't change, they just happen over and over again.

Sports Illustrated writer Whitney Tower in an article 50 years ago dated September 14, 1959 wrote:

...Thoroughbred racing in New York has had some great days. But it has also been saddled with an apathy and an inertia that at times forced New York to take a back seat to such race-conscious states as New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Florida, Illinois and California, where year after year striking new tracks sprang up to attract the sports-minded pubic.

But in 1959 New York got its new track, a brand spanking new Aqueduct and it opened that fall with much success.

On December 20, 1959 The New York Times ran an article with this lead line from author Joseph C Nichols:

"Horse racing in New York enjoyed the most prosperous financial season in its history as a result of the opening of the new Aqueduct track in September"

Fast forward 50 years to 2009 where now New York once again has been saddled with an apathy and an inertia that at times forced New York to take a back seat, this time falling behind in the slots mania, a now 8 year long and counting debacle brought to you by our wonderful New York Legislature.

Perhaps exaggerated a bit (by quotes from Charles Hayward of NYRA), but now on December 21, 2009 we get this article from the NY Daily News with this paragraph:

A top racing official says the Belmont Stakes- the third leg of the fabled Triple Crown - could be scratched this year because the governor and legislators can't agree on a plan to revitalize the state's premiere racetracks.

At least 50 years ago, it seemed optimism was at least alive, whereas now most of us just expect to get shafted.

Much like our Federal Government over the last 8 years, The New York Legislature falls deeper and deeper into dysfunction, not doing much but lining their own pockets where all but the most naive wait in line to see OZ.

Easy Gambling

The average U.S. residents large appetite for easy and fast gambling continues. According to the Census Bureau's annual Statistical Abstract of the United States, U.S. residents last year spent over $53.4 billion on lottery tickets, up from $52.4 billion in the previous year.

Most decided to skip the "more complicated" type of lottery where you have to pick a bunch of numbers, as about $3 of every $5 went toward instant scratch-off tickets. Despite a poor economy the numbers climbed from last year as they have every year-you can check out the numbers here (PDF)

The other gambling favorite of our times, video slot machines, got a boost as the Shinnecock Indians of Long Island, NY received federal recognition, clearing the path for the group to go forward with casino plans and essentially another player enters in the Aqueduct/Belmont 8 year long slot drama.

VLT Aid Savings Proposal

NY State Governor David Patterson unveiled his plan for cutting $2 Billion from the State Budget. This includes cutting aid from VLT proceeds at Racino's given to local Municipalities. The aid will be reduced (except for the City of Yonkers) by 50%.

I can see why the State and Municipalities love these hypnotic machines, The City of Yonkers received a payment this year of $19,600,000.

The City of Saratoga Springs, if the plan sticks, will take a $1.6 million hit.

Slots in Maryland

“Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet.” -Saint Augustine

In a perfect world, I don't like Slot Machines at Racetracks but I am not naive enough to dismiss the economic impact, especially in the short term.

This Tuesday, Nov. 4th, voters in the State of Maryland will have before them what is called Question 2-the question being-Should Slot machines aka Video Lottery Terminals be allowed at Maryland Race Tracks.

For some background information I defer over to two TBA bloggers (who are also thoroughbred owners) supporting the Slots at Frank Vespe's blog and Ted Grevelis' blog.