PA gov proposes $204 million cut to horse racing subsidies

[Al Gobbi]

Pennsylvania Governor Seeking to Raid Slots Money That Goes to State Tracks

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf submitted his 2020-2021 budget Tuesday, which called for a massive cut in the amount of money that goes to horse racing from slots proceeds. Wolf is seeking to take $204 million away from the Race Horse Development Fund, which totals about $250 million.

Such a move would prove devastating to racing and breeding industries, as slot money accounts for 88% of the total purses.

https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.co...-state-tracks/

[ultracapper]

Do it for the kids. Whenever any government entity in this country, from state governments to little one horse towns, want money, it's always for the kids. Lottery era politics.

[Tom]

Que up the Law & Order sound......

This day was bound to come....it will not be the last one like it.
Hope someone at the tracks has come with a contingency plan, when racing has to stand on its own.

[castaway01]

Originally Posted by Tom

Que up the Law & Order sound......

This day was bound to come....it will not be the last one like it.
Hope someone at the tracks has come with a contingency plan, when racing has to stand on its own.

I imagine the plan will be to greatly cut purses back to 1990s levels. I mean, 88% of the purse money was casino money, that's crazy.

[Afleet]

Originally Posted by ultracapper

Do it for the kids. Whenever any government entity in this country, from state governments to little one horse towns, want money, it's always for the kids. Lottery era politics.

exactly; we already spend more on education per student than anywhere in the world and we are not ranked in the top 10 in most educational categories. An objective person would argue that we are not getting our moneys worth now. Throwing money at something without accountability is how you arrive at the failing education system we have now.

[GMB@BP]

The most predictable thing ever.

[Secondbest]

How big is their breeding industry? If there are 40- 50 thousand jobs at stake it may not happen. Something similar was proposed a while back for NY. It was stopped dead because upstate NY has a lot of farms both harness horses and flat. I could be wrong but I think 100K jobs were at stake

[porchy44]

It has always felt a "little weird", watching $5,000 claimers running for $20,000

[AndyC]

Originally Posted by Afleet

exactly; we already spend more on education per student than anywhere in the world and we are not ranked in the top 10 in most educational categories. An objective person would argue that we are not getting our moneys worth now. Throwing money at something without accountability is how you arrive at the failing education system we have now.

Does racing have accountability? What return has the state gotten out of the subsidy of racing?

[Appy]

Sounds like horse racing (and sports betting?) is targeted by state governments in numerous places around the country. I just got a newsletter from my state senator outliningg a plan for the state to impose a NEW 7% tax on all online betting.
They previously (upon election of Brownback as governor) imposed a loophole law which levied a tax on race tracks of approx 20% more than the same tax levied against the state owned casinos, which required the race tracks to close their doors for lack of means to operate at a profit. That also put trainers like me (specializing in state bred competition) out of business, in addition to flushing all our investment down the drain overnight.

[stlseeeek]

If you needed slots to survive, this was always going to be the ending.


Slots are a band aid that leaks, leaks, and leaks, till finally the whole wound is still bloody.

Tracks that can run w/o slots and gaming machines are thriving because of added revenue. When it's your life and blood, you should of closed up shop years ago.

[thaskalos]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5clHY8mdf5U

[Afleet]

Originally Posted by AndyC

Does racing have accountability? What return has the state gotten out of the subsidy of racing?

I can't verify this as accurate. Also, remember reading a study that determined Philadelphia as the poorest big city in the US.

Wolf's proposal, which would require legislative approval, is for the next fiscal year, which begins on July 1. Sanfratello said Wolf's proposed $200 million cut represents more than 80% of the development fund that raises about $240 million annually. Of that $240 million, $18 million goes to breeders' awards, Sanfratello said, with the balance to purse revenue.

“We're going to make sure all the people in the industry get to their legislators and explain exactly what this means,” Sanfratello said. “It's about 20,000-plus jobs in the breeding and racing industry, hundreds of thousands of acres of open space, and $1.6 billion in economic impact that will be leaving the state.”

https://www.paulickreport.com/news/t...elopment-fund/

[Afleet]

Parx came out with a reduced racing schedule recently. That would reduce the breeders awards funding/spending as well

https://www.parxracing.com/pdf/live-racing-calendar.pdf

[thaskalos]

The money goes into what they've called the "Horse Racing Development Fund". By the fund's very name a strong argument can be made that the horse racing industry no longer deserves this money. After all...in which way has this money helped in the "development" of the sport?