Les Bois Park Dead of Natural Causes; Idaho, Let it Stay Dead

From the Les Bois Park website:

Dear Les Bois Park Fans,

As you may be aware, we will be closing our Turf Club Bar & Grill and Simulcast Facility, effective end of day on Sunday, March 20th. After being granted the simulcast license in December, Treasure Valley Racing kept simulcast operations going in order to mitigate the overhead costs of keeping Les Bois Park open during this time when the future of live racing remained uncertain and the horsemen were pursuing a solution. But the Idaho Senate State Affairs Committee has elected not to hear the Idaho Horsemen’s gaming commission bill this session. In the absence of another revenue source, we don’t believe running Les Bois Park is financially viable and therefore are closing down all operations.

(That “another revenue source” they seek is actually one they previously had – “instant gaming machines.” The legislature, however, feeling they were duped by the racing people, took the machines out after rightly determining that they were, for all intents and purposes, slots; slot machines are illegal in Idaho. So it does not appear that the gift – the subsidy – is coming back.)

Good news, indeed. But as sure as night follows day, the horse people ever refuse to go quietly. It’s the same old, tired script: Start by claiming victimhood at the hands of an unjust state; underscore the prospect of wrecked economies should Racing be allowed to fail; sprinkle in a healthy dose of racing-as-an-irreplaceable “tradition”; and finally, demand redress from – to be saved by – that state. In a Messenger Index opinion piece penned by horse owner Ed McNelis, the fatuity flows freely:

“Legislation was passed in 1964 that allowed pari-mutual [sic] wagering at tracks in Idaho. This was passed to help grow the horse industry in Idaho. The state lottery was approved and eroded the funding from the horse industry due to its wide spread access and convenient delivery system. The legislature’s goal of enhancing the horse industry and local economies was greatly diminished when they put the STATE in the gaming business. They never took steps to fix what they had broken when they took away the funding from the horse industry by passing the lottery.

All this is further compounded by the passage of Indian Gaming which took away even more funding from the horse industry and the small communities where it resides. The voice of the horse industry became weaker as the STATE lottery and Indian Gaming got stronger and took away the funding generated by wagering on horses. The Legislature had put themselves in direct competition with the very industry they had set out to help grow and prosper.”

Well. For decades, Racing enjoyed a virtual monopoly on legal gambling; all was right with the world. Then, alas, the market was opened – competition, the cornerstone of our capitalist society – and Racing paled against the more attractive products (an attraction enhanced, as McNelis freely admits, by “[a] convenient delivery system”).

More egregious, though, is McNelis’ slick (or is it ignorant?) substitution of the word “funding” for revenue (he does this four times in two short paragraphs). In point of fact, that shifting revenue is simply the gambling dollar going elsewhere – “taken away,” as it were, not by the big, bad state, but by the consumer, the buying public.

He continues:

“The horse industry is part of agriculture – the number one industry in our state. It generates over a billion six hundred thousand dollars in economic value to the state’s economy each year and has huge potential. Most of this goes to small communities where it is greatly needed. Small communities are always under economic pressures and need funds for their fair grounds and youth programs.”

First, again being crafty, McNelis makes it seem like the horse industry, as opposed to agriculture in the whole, generates “over a billion six hundred thousand dollars in economic value.” Second, and more important, of what relevance is “economic value” when the industry in question is moribund? If the “horse industry” is no longer viable, it should not fall to government to provide life support. Perhaps if this were 2008 and the teetering industry was banking…but it’s not. It’s horseracing. Enough said.

But even more shameful than assuming the victim role or economic scaremongering is conflating the “horse industry” – that is, the whip-forced racing of horses for $2 bets – with history, tradition, nature, and, yes, the future of our youth…

“Urbanization further drowned out the voice of small communities and agriculture of which the horse industry is a part. History was forgotten. Facilities and youth programs came under severe pressure as funding disappeared when the STATE lottery and Indian gaming eroded income that had gone to the horse industry.

While Idaho is becoming more urban it is a very desirable place to live because of the outdoors and life style. Each day facilities like our fair grounds get more depleted. Our huge army of volunteer leaders who make our youth into solid citizens through 4H and other programs cannot find funding… The disappearance of these programs, leaders and young people who grow and blossom as a result is a huge and critical loss to our state. …Youth are a primary recipient of benefits generated by the horse industry. …Where can we better invest our money?

The horse industry in our state is a vital industry and part of our history, lifestyle and the very fabric of our communities.” (McNelis’ entire article here.)

Idahoans, don’t fall for it. Racing is not, nor has it ever been, something special. It is a vile gambling business that kills – either on the track or in the slaughterhouse – thousands of horses annually. And judging by the empty stands and idle windows, not one you want or need any longer. The time has come. Let it die.