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[Stillriledup]

Originally Posted by Cholly

don’t love CDI either; supported the boycott; and when it was announced they were shopping the Fair Grounds (and probably Arlington also), my first thought was “don’t let the doorknob hit you in the ass on your way out”. But on further thought, I’ve come around to a different take-away on any satisfaction I may get from that last one.

The red herring that gets bandied around is “CDI would rather be a gaming company than a racing company”--that’s bullshit. What they’d rather be is a gaming company AND a racing company...as long as they can make any money at them. The synergies of being horizontally integrated across both industries are obvious.

These may not be people you’d want to share a beer with, but they’re not idiots--au contraire’. Selling Hollywood at a real-estate top was a shrewd move for a property destined to become a land-deal. With Calder, they were always going to be breathing Gulfstream’s fumes, and sharp corporations get out when they see they have no chance at being a market leader.

But the Fair Grounds is a different circumstance altogether. It comes with the gaming rights they crave; and it’s in a market where they are the leader. But in spite of these advantages, the cold-blooded corporate analysis reveals this asset (owning a race track) to be a dog that needs to be shed from the balance sheet...and despite any personal animosity I may hold for CDI, this a sobering realization.

If you saw the movie Llewyn Davis, there’s a great scene where he travels from Greenwich Village to Chicago trying to land a gig/recording contract with a music bigshot there. Davis reaches down and lays his guts out with a song that sent shivers down Cholly’s spine. The impresario takes it in, and then stares at Davis. The wheels are spinning upstairs, but he never flinches any facial muscle in the slightest. After several minutes of this dead-pan expression, he finally speaks. “I don’t see any money in this”, gets up, and walks out.

But isn't part of the gaming dependent on the fact that there's racing attached? People will say they're sabotaging the racing so its a money loser and when it becomes a money loser, they can say to state govt "lets keep the gaming and get rid of the track"