Fort Erie's Future Is In Doubt Again

Niagara This Week reports: "It could be the last season for the ponies in Fort Erie as the future of the local thoroughbred track is again in doubt."

"It's completely dependent on the province coming to an agreement with the owner," said Fort Erie Mayor Doug Martin.

I wonder what alternative Nordic has, outside of turning the track into one giant parking lot. Of course, they can sell the place. WEG would be a preferable buyer, even though WEG has no idea how to grow horse racing, at least they can save Fort Erie in the meantime, and worry about growing the game when their current racing execs eventually leave WEG's payroll. One thing at a time. Of course, an entrepreneurship that cares about growing horse racing would be much better than WEG, but to date Nordic has put an unrealistic price on Fort Erie, making a sale next to impossible.

Editorial on the subject is hoping for the government to go ahead with that $300 project, which as I've stated before is farcical and completely not feasible. The only thing that I see as being feasible is for the OLG to give the horsemen a larger cut on the slot winnings.


Canadians lost over $13 billion in the last year gambling. It looks like the 13 billion doesn't include online betting with offshore operators.
The number cited has increased by 5 times since 1992. Meanwhile, there is no way money bet on horse racing in Canada has come close to that type of increase. Thank WEG and high track takeouts for that.
Surprisingly, Albertans are the biggest losers, despite the much bigger population Ontario has.