Tuesday, New York Focus, a publication widely read by legislators, published a scathing piece on the proposed $455 million Belmont loan: “Kathy Hochul Bets Half a Billion on Horse Racing. Will the Industry Pay Her Back?” Please read, share, and act.
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That comment about the $455 million loan to the NYRA that “it would drive the economic activity enough to pay for itself two and a half times over…” is definitely questionable.
What the $455 million loan does is GUARANTEE that the New York State LEGISLATORS will NOT be able to STOP the Video Lottery Terminal payments and the other government-directed benefits to the New York Racing Association and the rest of the horse racing industry in New York State AND REDIRECT that “$250 (more or less) MILLION” in government subsidies to EDUCATION AND OTHER ESSENTIAL SERVICES. PLUS, it also guarantees that the elected politicians who are FOR handing out CORPORATE WELFARE to horse racing will get thousands of dollars in campaign donations for years to come. That is not what I call a true driving of the economy myself.
Huzzahs to you for getting involved in this funding. Best way to know out about racing.
NYRA does not repay its loans. The Governor knows this. So long as everyone
gets theirs. Crime does not pay. Maybe I’m wrong, does anyone know or keep track of NYRAs loans from the state.
The upside to all this hoopla – if there is one – is that it appears for certain that one more race track – Aqueduct -will be permanently closed very soon.
These state subsidies are absolutely essential to the horse racing business if they are to survive. But quite frankly, I personally don’t think they’ll survive at all – even WITH the state sponsored subsidies!
While one of the most important politicians’ tools to their trade, in general, is mostly throwing bull s**t around – and hoping that the public doesn’t notice – in this case, I think the rapidly dwindling attendance at the race tracks, as well as the ever-dropping handle on everyday racing is gonna become harder and harder to hide. Once the idiot politicians that sponsor these bills realize that they may lose votes if too many voters disagree with them – the subsidies may stop sooner rather than later. Let’s hope so. The subsidies are doing absolutely nothing to clean up or improve the ‘game’. In fact, all they are doing is help prop up a dying, cruel, cheating animal-abusive enterprise.
Let’s face facts, and address the elephant in the room: the public interest in horse racing is rapidly falling off, and this trend, which has been going on for some time, is highly unlike to reverse itself.
No matter HOW much money is thrown at it.
As most readers of this site know, I was an avid gambler on horse racing up until about a year ago. I no longer place bets on horses, and have no intention of doing so again..
Well, even some of my hard-core former gambling buddies are becoming very dis-interested in horse racing and are rapidly embracing sports betting and casino junkets as gambling alternatives..
Why?
Most if not all of them are NOT animal activists, but they are also finding out that the rampant drug use, and pain-killers administered to lame, unsound horses that head to the starting gate on a regular basis are affecting their handicapping process. And, yes, all of them do HATE to see breakdowns, even if they DON’T have a bet on them.
And speaking of which: a good friend of mine, and former gambling buddy from New Jersey informs me that the word around the Meadowlands is that owner Jeff Gural is anxious to sell the track- and is courting ‘Fan Duel’, who is allegedly interested in purchasing the entire facility which could come as early as March of this year.
Allegedly, if this deal goes through, Fan Duel will eliminate horse racing there entirely, with the exception of three days of racing as required by the state of New Jersey.
Time will tell if there is any truth to these rumors.
I used to love horse racing. But it has become a cruel, horrible, hypocritical and dishonest enterprise, and getting worse by the day.
To quote one of my favorite TV shows, ‘Shark Tank,’ -“And for those reasons – I’m out!”
-Joe
Even though the Aqueduct Race Track is scheduled to be closed for racing at some point, the number of racing days will be transferred from Aqueduct to Belmont Park. So the number of days that the NYRA can engage in the routine abuse and doping of horses for racing and wagering will remain the same.