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State Issues Archive

Mass. Voters Back Slots

Massachusetts racetrack owners could get the slots they wish for this spring. The state Senate passed a bill allowing slots machines last fall, and a vote on the issue is due to come up in the House next week. Supporters claim a narrow majority in the House, with an estimated 86 of the 160 members ready to say yes to slots (although, it must be noted, that’s not enough to override governor Mitt Romney’s anticipated veto). Even Massachusetts voters are getting on the slots bandwagon. According to a Boston Globe poll:

Fifty-three percent of voters surveyed said they were in favor of legalizing slot machines, and 41 percent said they were opposed, while 6 percent said they were neutral.

The poll also showed that out-of-state travel (to casinos like Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut) for the purpose of gambling is quite real:

Nearly a third of all respondents said they had traveled outside Massachusetts in the past year specifically to visit a casino or gaming facility.

While things are looking good for those who favor expanded gaming, the outcome of the House vote — whenever it’s scheduled — is hardly certain. Anti-gambling state representative Dan Bosley “is rallying his troops” to stop the legislation, and House speaker Sal DiMasi’s attitude towards slots could be called noncommittal at best.
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Racetrack employees are planning a rally at the State House next Monday to show support for the slots bill.
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More on slots from the 3/16 edition of the Boston Globe: An opinion piece by Steve Poftak argues that the proposed $25 million licensing fee each track would have to pay to install slots is too low:

If we assume that each slot machine generates revenues at a rate of $285 per day, which was the figure used by the Maryland Legislature during their deliberations on a similar casino bill, the net present value of income, after the state’s share and expenses, tops $600 million. This suggests that a recurring fee of $85 million per license would be closer to the true value.

Poftak makes a lot of the same points that an article in the Boston Herald did a couple of weeks ago, which also took note of what happened in Pennsylvania, where slots licenses were granted for a $50 million fee:

… some of the world’s biggest gambling companies have since paid hundreds of millions to gain control of the tracks and the slot licenses — far more than the $50 million charged to the state. The winners, in these cases, were not taxpayers, but racetrack owners who benefitted hugely because the industry bid up the value of their gaming licenses.

That sounds like bad news for taxpayers, but is it for racing?

Posted in State Issues on March 15, 2006

Slots May Have a Shot

Massachusetts slots supporters believe legislation allowing the machines at the state’s four racetracks has the best chance of passing in years:

“My sense of this vote is we have a really good chance — the best chance we have ever had,” said Louis Ciarlone, president of Local 123 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents 200 Suffolk Downs workers. “This is the World Series.”

A vote on the slots bill passed by the Senate last fall (or one very like it) has been scheduled in the House for the week of March 20. The Senate bill was approved by a veto-proof majority; the same is not expected of the House vote.
More: Opponents worry slots will infringe on lottery revenue:

State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, who opposes slot machines at the racetracks, said it’s an open question how much the lottery would be affected. But he’s convinced it will suffer.

A report from Christiansen Capital Advisors in January concluded that it wouldn’t.

Posted in State Issues on February 17, 2006

Sundries

I meant to address all of these stories last week in longer posts, but never found the time …
In a report issued last Thursday, consultants to the Massachusetts State Lottery said that slot machines at the state’s racetracks would bring in $1.1 billion annually without cannibalizing lottery revenues and that launching a Keno-style horseracing game would boost existing Keno revenue $168 million. The slots numbers boost slot supporters’ arguments, not that the report is likely to have much effect on the slots debate when it’s taken up again in March. As for the Keno game, the lottery tried to introduce it last spring, but gave up after some legislators opposed the game out of worry over its effect on Suffolk Downs. In typical fashion, the Boston Globe and Boston Herald report the same information, but the Globe downplays slots and the state’s racing industry, the Herald puts both at the center.
Friends of New York Racing is urging New York legislators to require that any bidder for the NYRA franchise commit to improving living conditions for backstretch workers at the state’s three tracks. In a report released last week, FONYR recommends renovating “existing dormitories … to meet State Department of Health and OSHA standards” and notes that “although women comprise nearly 35% of the backstretch work force, only 16% of the available rooms are assigned for use by women.” An appendix details the squalor.
Andy Stronach wants to help rookie horseplayers. With SheTips. I still hate this idea.

Posted in State Issues on January 23, 2006

Limping Into the New Year

It’s January 2 and Suffolk Downs, along with Massachusetts’ three other racetracks, is open today for simulcasting, thanks to a 90-day extension of existing simulcasting law that was passed by the state legislature only two days before the previous law was set to expire. To secure the bill, which had been held up throughout December because of a disagreement over expanding simulcasting, the House agreed to debate and vote on a slots bill that was passed by the Senate last fall in March. House speaker Sal DiMasi is already saying though that the expanded simulcasting dispute must be resolved before the slots issue can be taken up again. Expect more foot dragging on the matter as March draws near.
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In New York, NYRA narrowly averted bankruptcy by accepting a $30 million bailout from the state. Alan at Left at the Gate has been following the story closely and has all the details of the deal.
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Bay Meadows days are numbered:

Opponents of a plan to demolish the historic Bay Meadows racetrack to make way for homes, stores and offices failed to get enough valid signatures to place the issue before voters in the June election, San Mateo city officials said Wednesday.

The signature-gathering effort fell 136 names short of the 4,661 valid signatures needed to get the issue placed on the ballot. More than 1,100 of the 5,700 signatures that had been gathered on the petition were invalidated by the San Mateo County Registrar of Voters, which requires that signers be registered voters in the county.

Owners of the site said they plan to immediately move forward with the redevelopment project, which will convert the 83-acre racetrack into a community with 1,250 homes, 1.25 million square feet of office space, 15 acres of parkland, and 150,000 square feet of stores and restaurants.

Racetrack supporters say they’re not giving up. “We’re not finished yet,” said Linda Schinkel, founder of Friends of Bay Meadows.

Posted in State Issues on January 2, 2006

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