No Colonial Downs on Twinspires

[Maryland Owner]

Twinspires has no agreement with Colonial Downs this year - think they carried Colonial last year. The agent I spoke with at Twinspires said that they didn't believe that they would carry Colonial at all - sounded like they are not even trying to conclude an agreement.

[deathandgravity]

yea... I was upset to see no CNL on XPRESSBET!
Love CNL Downs!

[turfnsport]

I'd be interested to know how many of you guys did not bet CNL on Friday because it was not available at TW and Xpressbet.

I'm returning to the CNL radio show this year and I want to make sure I mention how idiotic this is.

11:00am ET
www.ESPN950am.com

[Millpond68]

I for one did not bet due to it not being carried by TS. CD is one of my favorite tracks with plenty of FULL fields which are hard to find in racing today.
I hope TS and CD reach an agreement as soon as possible.

[miesque]

I would bet a good chunk of change that this is a result of new legislation which goes into effect July 1, 2009 dictating a 10% source market fee with an additional 1% to the Breeders Fund and the half a percent to the Virginia Racing Commission.

[eastie]

i'm one who couldn't bet and I'm ill about it

[rrbauer]

Originally Posted by miesque

I would bet a good chunk of change that this is a result of new legislation which goes into effect July 1, 2009 dictating a 10% source market fee with an additional 1% to the Breeders Fund and the half a percent to the Virginia Racing Commission.

Is Alex Pope involved there? Or, just a bunch of know-nothings-about-horse-racing that are taking their cues from the horse owners?

FWIW CNL is on Youbet's menu.

[NoCal Boy]

Twinspires is in a dispute over licensing in VA. Youbet settled the licensing issue in 2008 and agreed to pay certain source market fees.

[miesque]

Originally Posted by rrbauer

Is Alex Pope involved there? Or, just a bunch of know-nothings-about-horse-racing that are taking their cues from the horse owners?

FWIW CNL is on Youbet's menu.

I am actually pretty ticked off about this and unfortunately I found out about this after the legislation had already passed and it ws only because I was flipping through Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred magazine and saw it listed as an "accomplishment" under the Virginia Thoroughbred Association update part at the end of the magazine.

[cj]

Apparently, Colonial thinks a lot of people actually care about the racing there.

[Tom]

What's Colonial? A fair track?

[eastie]

fair to middlin, actually it's awesome

[startngate]

Given the new legislation that passed, once any current contracts expire I would be very surprised to see Colonial available on any ADW other than Colonial's own ADW moving forward.

It's insane what they have done. Vast majority of the population in Virginia would affect the Maryland Jockey Club more with regards to source market fees, yet the VRC and Colonial want everyone to believe it affects their business when they have no OTB's anywhere close to northern VA.

Sorry guys, dumb law. They will see just how dumb next year, when all the ADW's stop taking Colonial and stop paying source market fees.

If by some crazy chance the AG in Virginia decides to go after the ADW's in court, it will be ugly when they lose on anti-trust issues. Will be a great result for the ADW's and I'm sure they would all love nothing more than to get this settled over a track that only runs 30 or so thoroughbred days and a harness meet no one cares about.

[trying2win]

Who needs Twinspires anyway? Premier Turf Club is not making excuses re the Colonial Downs signal. PTC is carrying Colonial Downs, and you get a cash rebate to boot for your business.

T2W
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~"Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure."

--Don Wilder

[startngate]

Originally Posted by trying2win

Who needs Twinspires anyway? Premier Turf Club is not making excuses re the Colonial Downs signal. PTC is carrying Colonial Downs, and you get a cash rebate to boot for your business.

Spoken like someone who doesn't live in Virginia. Residents there currently need a licensed ADW in VA to place bets. After the new rules go into effect they need an ADW that pays the SMF and taxes specified to take VA residents ... or ignores/challenges the law.

Premier Turf is not currently licensed in Virginia, so either they are not taking VA customers, or they are doing so illegally and Colonial just doesn't know about it. Given the SMF requirements under the new law, VA residents would not be able to get much of anything as a rebate (if any rebate at all) from PTC on Colonial ... or any other racetrack for that matter.

It will be easy for an ADW to get Colonial's signal under the new law if they are not operating in Virginia. That way there would be no source market fees or taxes to worry about. If an ADW wants to take VA customers then they are not going to get the Colonial signal without complying with the law.

My guess is the larger ADW's will drop the Colonial signal and fight any attempts by the track, racing commission, or the VA AG's office to stop them from taking bets from VA residents. The short meet is not a big deal to lose for them, and winning a case there would have far reaching benefits for the ADW's.

I have long thought VA would be the battleground for this since it took so long for any of the ADW's (other than Colonial's own) to get licensed there and the meets were so short that the ADW's really wouldn't care about losing them in the fight. They can't fight in CA or NJ because the content is too valuable. The fallout from this is going to be fun to watch.