Casino execs offer ideas

The fourth Racing Congress got underway at the Bellagio in Las Vegas Wednesday morning with four casino company executives telling their audience of racing executives that horse racing is just one very small part of their businesses.



Terry Lanni, chairman and CEO of MGM Mirage, pointed out that horse racing has two areas of common ground with casino companies: One, they are both needing to gain a foothold in internet gaming, and second, they need to offer varied entertainment.



Lanni said he believes it is "a farce" that the government could pass legislation prohibiting internet gaming even though such legislation couldn't be enforced. He added that he believes the internet gaming issue will be settled in U.S. courts, not in the U.S.Congress. "I don't think we'll see that through the Congress of the United States because it's too much of a political football."



Lanni also said he doesn't think horse racing should count on slots to define or guarantee its existence in the future. "The uniqueness (of slots) will disappear," he noted.



Also speaking in an earlier session were Bob Farinella of Praire Meadows Racetrack and Casino, Robert Soper, president and CEO of Mohegan Sun, which owns Pocono Downs, and Tim Willmott, COO of Harrah's Entertainment.



Willmot was blunt about racing's place in Harrah's business plan. "Our primary interest is slot machines and table games," he said. Willmot noted that Harrah's is spending $400 million to build Chester Downs, with $100 million being spent on the track and the remaining $300 million on the casino operation.



The opening panel also included seven racing writers and/or editors. The seven write the majority of their words on Thoroughbred racing and generalized in their remarks, and largely agreed that a good racing story might still make its way into major media outlets, but not without the work of publicists.

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