Harness racing supporters invade Atlantic City

The first gathering of the New Jersey Legislative Gaming  Summit was called to order on Friday morning in the Atlantic City Convention Center, surely hostile turf for harness racing. But that wasn’t entirely the case, and it became evident immediately after the chairman of the Gaming Summit, Senator Jim Whelan, banged the gavel, calling the summit to order. That’s because immediately following the last fall of the gavel, a man stepped to the front of the room and played the “Call to the Post.”

From the standpoint of harness racing supporters, the highlight of the morning session of the summit came when Senators Ray Lesniak and Paul Sarlo, whose districts includes the Meadowlands, took on a casino spokesman.

Lesniak, who is an advocate of VLTs at the Meadowlands and making sure harness racing remains viable in the state, attacked the casino industry’s position that it has been subsidizing horse racing in the state to its own detriment. Lesniak pointed out that New Jersey’s casinos pay an eight percent tax, less than horse racing, and that the difference amounted to $40 million, “and that’s a subsidy.”

Sarlo almost started a heated debate when he pointed out that money made by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority—most certainly with profits from harness racing—helped finance the Atlantic City Convention  Center, which benefits the casino industry.

The approximately 100-150 harness supporters in the audience, broke out in applause at Sarlo’s observations, only to be reprimanded by Summit chairman Whelan, who threatened to bring in union employees from Atlantic City to even out the cheering.

AUGUST 6, 2010 AT THE ATLANTIC CITY CONVENTION CENTER

I am Thomas Luchento, president of the Standardbred Breeders & Owners Association of New Jersey.  In that capacity I represent the thousands of drivers, trainers, breeders and caretakers who because of their passion and skill are engaged in the sport of harness racing. 

This is a major investment in time, money and hopes.  And it is the reason that thousands of acres – more than 174,000 acres – of the Garden State are still green.  For those of you who stray off the Turnpike and Parkway and travel our county highways in Central and South Jersey, you know and love that sight – of mares and the foals grazing in white fenced pastures. 

All of this is in jeopardy.  The financial engine that makes this possible is racing at the Meadowlands.  If the home to harness racing’s most prestigious race, the Hambletonian, is gone, so too will the farms.  Even now our breeders are considering offers from developers.  Those who entered Farmland Preservation with the intentions of being in agri-business for generations to come, are exploring their options to buy back their rights and sell the land for houses, malls and parking lots. 

Allowing this to happen flies in the face of nearly every indicator of public preference to preserve open space in this state.  Consider this when you weigh the future of horse racing in this state.  Those few minutes of entertainment and excitement on the track are only a small fraction of what we mean to the state economy. 

If our industry is diminished or destroyed, all of this will move to the surrounding states which have the resources to support them. 

I know some of you think, well here is another industry that wants welfare, that if it cannot sustain itself it should fade away. 

But to apply free market rhetoric to horse racing is to ignore the fact that we have always been a highly regulated and restricted industry.  When we thrived, we were the only legal form of gambling in the state.  We had nothing to say about decisions that were made to add lotteries and casinos.  Both of those competing forms of gambling were allowed to expand well beyond anyone’s expectations. 

Even with the decline in revenues, we were still able to thrive and offer the highest purses in our industry.  You may ask why that is important.  Horsemen are businessmen.  They go where the best money is and the best horses as well as large fields of horses draw the gamblers whose wagering supports the purses as well as the operation of the track. 

What has inflicted the greatest damage on us in this decade was the arrival of racinos in surrounding states.  The presence of slots or video lottery terminals at competing racetracks in our region has fueled a battle for the best horses and all that means to the quality of the product. 

We do not want to see the parties involved draw a line in the sand and make this a battle between South Jersey interests and legislators against the rest of the state.  That isn’t necessary or productive. 

We know that we need to adapt to the changes in the gaming marketplace and the demands of the 21st century.  Our product is still quite wonderful and horse racing fans are still out there.  They may not be filling our grandstands as they once did because they’re betting by phone or online.  And we need to take steps to make our presentation more appealing to the I-Pad generation.  But that takes funding and we pledge that if we have a reliable source of income that we will dedicate a significant amount of dollars to technological upgrades as well as advertising and marketing.  These have all suffered in recent years. 

The horsemen of New Jersey were never the decision makers at the racetracks.  All we did was work hard, show up and put on the show – the races.  Now we are being asked to take on the responsibility of saving our industry.  We need time. 

We thank you for reviewing this testimony. 

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