OP-ED By SILVIO LACCETTI
NOVEMBER 24, 2007 — There are many strident voices arguing for and against putting a 'racino' (slots parlor at a horse track) at the Meadowlands. How is the citizen supposed to handicap the contest as a public policy matter?
Just as every race has its conditions for entries, so too does the racino question. The first policy consideration is that New Jersey has a mega-hotel/casino complex. Atlantic City's multi-billion infrastructure is a vital component of our state's economic engine. A second condition is that harness racing (but not thoroughbred) at the Big M has been the class of the world.
After evaluating the conditions, the handicapper must consider past-performance lines. Horses often come from different tracks, move in and out of classes, use various drivers and sometimes run in bad weather. Transposing this type of analysis to the racino issue, past performance clearly indicates their profitability. Their dedicated revenue streams have saved many a small track. But there is the occasional foul-weather event: The racino at Vernon Downs in upstate New York canceled the last few weeks of harness racing. Both the racino and the track are in the red!
Reports from Iowa -- where the racino broke its maiden -- also reveal some pertinent problems. The racino is taking lots of action from riverboat gambling. Similarly, a racino anywhere in New Jersey (or surrounding states) would cut into Atlantic City's handle. More surprising is that gamblers are increasingly favoring penny and nickel slots, and this could foreshadow fiscal and social problems down the line.
The next handicapping factor is how the horse runs its races, or, for policy analysis, how the scenario plays out. At racinos, horseracing becomes a secondary consideration. Casino players don't usually bet horses. Track attendance doesn't increase. Facilities don't improve much, either. The Bucks County Courier Times of May 28 dedicated most of its editorial page to serious complaints of racing fans and some owners regarding the Philadelphia Park racino. Promised improvements to the track have not been made. Horseplayers are second-class citizens, isolated from everything else, with few access points to the tarmac. My own visit to the facility confirms these conditions.
Finally, the handicapper must consider the harness driver, or, in this case, the various chief advocates on either side of the issue. All of the players are quite skilled in politics and public relations, so no special advantage seems to accrue to either side.
OK. Taking everything into consideration, the racino could be a favored choice as public policy. However, as horseplayers know, the favorite doesn't usually win the race. The racino is an easy fix, but a false favorite. Why? It all goes back to the conditions of the policy question.
The Meadowlands is one of the foundations of our state's international image and prestige. A new stadium is rising. The railroad is a-coming. The arena stays. Xanadu opens. More events. More conventions. Like a sharp $10K claimer in a $25K race, the racino doesn't fit in well with all the new activities. It will weaken Atlantic City without adding world-class stature to the Meadowlands.
Harness racing is world class and should be marketed full-throttle. The state must radically transform the dreary, dingy depressing race track. In its own interest, the casino industry should increase its current contribution to keep purses competitive. And the horsemen had better come up with a plan to help themselves.
We can do without the racino.
Silvio Laccetti is a professor of social sciences at Stevens Institute of Technology, a national columnist and editor of New Jersey Profiles in Public Policy.
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