Horse Racing: New Jersey’s plan for gambling and casinos expose a regional rift
It’s so muddled and hazy that one wouldn’t even be able to tell what they are walking into. On the surface of it, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s support of the Hanson report seems like just another economic decision made in tough times, but a closer looks reveals a twisted web of competing interest and ugly politics.
The plan is being painted as unleashing the Grim Reaper to collect the soul of a dying horse racing industry in New Jersey. That’s one side of the story. The other side of the story views the plan as a necessary amputation of a failing industry that continuously bleeds money. The interesting part is that both opinions are factual.
The state owned and operated Monmouth Park and Meadowlands Racecourse are not sustainable. They are operating with a deficit that runs into tens of millions of dollars. The plan that wants to either privatize or close the tracks really is a death sentence, because in their current state, the tracks have no hope of finding a buyer. Horse racing has no realistic option but to close down. Of course, unless a divine miracle suddenly enables the tracks to start generating, instead of losing funds. No one is holding their breath, though.
New Jersey is already facing a severe budget deficit so it perhaps makes sense to close down the tracks if they are costing the state. Though it’s not as simple as that, because almost 16,000 jobs and a vast expanse of farmland are associated with the industry. The state would save roughly $20 million but it’s liable to lose a lot more in the long run. The impact to the industry isn’t a sure thing, though. Those associated with the industry might participate in neighbouring states, but lately, horse racing has not been as profitable as it used to and without a doubt, a large number of businesses associated with the sport would go under. No one can really predict what the overall impact would be.
It still gets more complicated. Racetracks all around the state of New Jersey have adopted the ‘racino’ formula, where gambling and horse racing go hand in hand. Their synergy makes both more profitable and if introduced into New Jersey, slot machines and other forms of gambling could save the industry. That is pretty much certain.
So why has that not happened or even being considered? Because of Atlantic City, New Jersey’s gambling capital. Gambling generates a lot of revenue and has a lot of pull with New Jersey’s legislature. They have stringently opposed the introduction of slot machines at racetracks because it would take a slice out of their revenues. Therein lies the conflict: the conflict between Northern New Jersey’s horse racing and Southern New Jersey’s gaming.
The recently held New Jersey Gaming Summit demonstrated how strained the North vs South situation had become. Many times during the summit, horse racing supporters erupted into uncontrollable applause when something in their favour was said. The supporters, who came to the summit donning ‘Save Meadowlands’ T-shirts, started to irk the southern New Jersey supports.
At one point, Senator and former mayor of Atlantic City, Jim Whelan, who was presiding over the summit, let loose with his gavel when supporters of the North got a bit overzealous with their applause. “If we want to have a contest of who can clap the loudest – folks who want to support the Meadowlands or folks from Atlantic City – I’ll ask my friends in the first row to make a phone call, we’ll fill the room with construction workers and they’ll hoot the North Jersey people down,” Whelan warned.
Battle lines are being drawn and it’s feeling more and more like a conflict between the north and the south, each looking out for its own specific interests. There is a need to find a middle ground where either side can be satisfied without trampling the other. The Gaming Summit failed to bring the sides together and if the north-south view of things becomes more popular, the situation most assuredly can only get worse.
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