Here is a video by Joe Scully, a rodeo MC, shot at Fort Erie Race Track:
Many good points are made. This move has economic disaster written all over it. Slots are racetracks partnerships is a winning deal for jobs and the province. It is a program that the USA is following, even where casinos are being allowed for the very first time. Ending the program will have long enduring sweeping consequences.
One thing Scully is wrong about is that there will still be revenues for the municipalities (perhaps not as much), but some will lose them altogether, and some will start seeing them for the first time.
Finally there is some noise about Public Cost Benefit Analysis. This should have been an issue before the budget was voted on, especially after Dwight Duncan doubted the 60,000 jobs number. The fact he doesn't know if it is 10,000, 20,000, or 60,000 proves that this decision was done without due diligence.
I don't know about you, but I've never cared much about Ontario politics. I think Ontario politicians rely on voter apathy. Being a social liberal who believes in separation of church and state, I took a stance a few years ago against John Tory because he wanted to fund religious schools, but other than that I really didn't give a rats butt about politics. Now, I'm becoming fascinated by it, and the more I learn, the more I've become disgusted by the Liberal Party of Ontario. They seem to take deception to brand new levels.
I believe that their ending of slots at racetracks program will kill the party in the future. They won't be able to overcome losing many voters for life. Politicians like Kim Craitor are done if Fort Erie does close. He couldn't even get Fort Erie a gaming zone. If I were him, I'd cross the floor ASAP.
The Liberals aren't only to blame for this. They only have a minority government, Tim Hudak has not come out and stated what he would have done, or what can be done to rectify things, and the issue wasn't important enough to Andrea Horwath to either vote against the budget or demand a Cost Benefit study first.
I really don't know what is going to happen in the end here, but I'm not very optimistic, despite the 3 man committee, the Ontario Ombudsman and the work of Dennis Mills (Racing Future). I can't see the corrupt Ontario Liberal government bending, but I hope I'm wrong.
On Twitter check out @racing_future,
@Ont_Ombudsman, and @HonestDwight.
5 comments:
Do you not agree that the purses for the most part are ridiculous at Woodbine when you consider the take out, field sizes and the handle? Shouldn't more of the "slot revenue" go toward fixing the game? You need both owners and gamblers to make it go. Why is the gambler never mentioned in this issue? Horse racing has treated the bettor like crap for years, that's why it's in the situation it is in.
Horse racing should have to stand on it's own four legs or go away. I would be embarrassed to work in an industry that was so far in the toilet that it needs a completely different form of business to prop it up.
Anon, horse racing everywhere pretty well needs to be propped up. Even NYRA now has "subsidized" purses but they were getting by without slots. The industry has failed without a doubt to compete with other forms of gambling. Takeout needs to be drastically cut, but there are too many horsemen groups standing in the way of growth.
I know it is hard to sympathize with Ontario horsemen and tracks on that basis as they did nothing or less than nothing to address this issue while they had the slots monies flowing in.
However, a counter argument could be made that many people go to the slots because it is at a track, and the government may owe the industry for slots because tracks were used as a no fuss way to get the cash cow mooing.
Still, this seems to be a choice about 30,000 plus jobs and businesses that will be left off in the cold versus big casino operators which will come in and scoop most of the monies that were going to go to the racetrack industry. I think the government has an obligation to put Ontario jobs first. But it doesn't seem that the Ontario Liberals "think" that way.
NYT's,PETA and other liberals want to stop Horseracing.
If the average person knew anything about the BS that goes on in horse racing they would be appalled. Instead, during the broadcasts of the big races they hear about how a horse was named after somebodies dog that died or some other human interest story. They never hear the truth about the cheating and the mistreatment of the horses.
The whole game is an embarrassment.
Look at harness with fahters and sons in the same race. Its a big joke that anyone really thinks they are racing. Drugs,misfits,bottom feeders is what harness stands for. Stop giving these bums welfae.
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