New Jersey bill may be the saviour of the state’s horse racing industry
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has been an enthusiastic supporter of the horse racing industry. During his term in office, he made considerable efforts to rejuvenate the deteriorating state of the industry. Gov. Christie’s most recent accomplishment
in this regard is the passing of legislation by the New Jersey Senate as well as the Assembly by his support.
The legislation was passed by both the houses last Monday with an overwhelming majority of 71-5 in the Assembly of New Jersey, and by 36-1 in the Senate. However, it still requires the signatures of the governor before it becomes the law.
In case Gov. Christie signs the legislation, New Jersey’s horse racing industry is expected to receive a tremendous boost. According to the bill, a new state casino fund will be created, whose main purpose would be the transfer of a total of $30 million
to the New Jersey Racing Commission. This transfer of funds would take place over a period of three years.
In the first year, i.e. 2011, an amount of $15 million would be given to the commission. The year 2012 will see a transfer of $10 million, whereas in the last year, five million dollars would be given to the commission by the casino fund. These funds will
be allocated to the commission so that it is able to distribute it to the horse racing industry. However, it is not clear what the distribution criteria will be, as the racing commission’s officials were not available for comment on Tuesday.
Turning the legislation into law will also mean that the state’s 11 casinos would come under the authority of the Division of Gaming Enforcement. The Division forms a part of the Attorney General’s Office. This would mean that the Casino Control Commission
would no longer be responsible for licensing or fining the casinos in New Jersey.
As the casinos of New Jersey are required to pay the state for the supervisory services that it provides, the casinos were interested to have fewer rules and supervisors. They argued that this provision would help to reduce their operating costs. The casinos
of New Jersey make a payment of approximately $ 24.5 million per year to the commission. However, this figure has seen a decline with the fall in revenues earned from the gamblers in the city.
The distributions that would be made to the horse racing industry will act as replacement for subsidies. These subsidies were part of a three-year plan that was agreed upon by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority and the casinos of Atlantic City.
The three-year agreement was valid until the end of 2010. It helped channel a total of $90 million to the horse racing industry by subsidising racing purses.
As the horse racing industry saw the expiry date of the agreement nearing, they escalated their efforts in order to have the sympathies of the state with them. However, the state of New Jersey was not able to meet the requirements of the horse racing industry
because of financial strain in the form of a budget deficit.
Oversight of the state's 11 casinos - including licensing them and fining them - will be shifted from the Casino Control Commission to the Division of Gaming Enforcement, which is part of the Attorney General's Office. However, this will only come into effect
if Gov. Christie signs the bill.
According to Senator Jennifer Beck, “We don’t know for certain if the Governor will approve the bill as is. I know they worked new language into the bill, but it [the approval of the horse racing provision] is at his discretion.”
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