However you look at it, the state of New Jersey must allow the installation of slot machines at our horse racing tracks.
We must catch up with surrounding state competition and install these slot machines at once or face doing nothing and losing our state’s horsemen’s futures, open space, farmland and other agriculture jobs, revenue and lands that are associated with the equine industry.
Gov. Chris Christie has formed an independent panel to investigate the pros and cons of slot machines, but the time for talking is over. We can do nothing and continue to lose the horsemen and betting public to neighboring states.
Have the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA) independently move forward on its own and install and manage the slots at horse tracks with live racing, with a percentage of that revenue reinvested into live horse racing, i.e., purses.
This action would draw the top-bred racehorses back to New Jersey. Or form partnerships between the NJSEA, the horsemen and the casinos, and install slots at racetracks with live racing, with money divided equally among said parties.
Have the horsemen purchase the Meadowlands in East Rutherford and Monmouth Park in Oceanport and manage the slot machines and live racing themselves, or hire an independent managing firm to handle the slots and entertainment side, with the horsemen overseeing the live racing structures, and obviously allow the state to get its percentage of revenues.
Either way, Gov. Christie must step up to the plate and soon. It also should be noted that the horsemen and racetracks need to continue to come up with new marketing ideas to get more people to the tracks.
One idea is to have a game like bingo played in between races, along with live entertainment and family-friendly days. Reintroduce the horse to the public — after all, it is the state animal.
The same can be said about Atlantic City reinventing itself as a tourist destination, among other entertainment possibilities.
All sides must meet in the middle with this issue or face total self-destruction from not acting at all. Time is running out. With all the income this would generate, I only see a win-win situation for the state, the horsemen and the casinos, if they all should agree to move forward.
Kim Jessome Millstone Township