On Election Day, Nov. 4, Maryland voters approved video lottery terminals (VLTs) for racetracks, adding another nearby state to the roster of those around New Jersey with slot machines at their tracks.
Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York already offer VLTs at their racetracks. In New Jersey, the casino association has agreed to pay the state’s racetracks $90 million over the next three years in return for banning the use of VLTs at the tracks during that time. The funding is supposed to help the state’s racing industry maintain purse levels and keep its $1.1 billion horse industry viable in the face of increased competition from neighboring states with slots at their tracks.
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley told The Bloodhorse, a journal of thoroughbred racing, that his state needs slots at the racetracks to help fix big budget deficits.
When Richard J. Codey served as New Jersey’s acting governor in 2005 he proposed putting VLTs at the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford to help fix the budget deficit. The VLTs would have generated between $100 million and $150 million for the state in the first fiscal year and more than $200 million in subsequent years, according to newspaper articles printed at that time. However, the plan never came to fruition due to pressures from the New Jersey casino industry.
Tom Luchento, president of the Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association of New Jersey, congratulated the citizens of Maryland for approving the use of slots at their tracks, which he said will help their horsemen and their state’s budgetary bottom line.
“We’re still not sure why the state of New Jersey does not wish to take advantage of both factors by allowing slots at our tracks,” Luchento said. “Why doesn’t New Jersey want to take in the millions of dollars that slots at the Meadowlands could add to the state’s coffers and potentially play a crucial role in tackling the state’s budgetary gaps? Why are we allowing these dollars to flow out of state?”
Dr. Karyn Malinowski, director of the Equine Science Center at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, said Maryland has a strong thoroughbred-racing program that will only get stronger with the help of VLTs.
“This will only enhance it, drawing more thoroughbred horses for racing and breeding away from New Jersey,” she said, adding that Maryland purses would increase and better horses will race in that state as a result.
She also noted that the slots at tracks in Maryland would slightly impact Atlantic City casino traffic.
Upper Freehold Township resident Elaine McMinn, who operates Briarwood Saddlery at Monmouth Park, Oceanport, said the Maryland voters’ approval of slots at the tracks will not help horseracing in New Jersey.
“There are fewer and fewer thoroughbreds being bred here as the purses and attendance go up at neighboring states’ tracks,” McMinn said. “[Gov. Jon] Corzine has not helped the racing industry in New Jersey.”
McMinn said all people involved with horses need to lobby for slots at New Jersey racetracks.
“If it should not come to pass, in my opinion, many of the horse farms in New Jersey will disappear, along with all of the other related businesses,” she said. “As we all know, as farms decrease, building increases, and then more money will be needed to spend on schools, roads and other services.”
Millstone Township’s Maggi Romano, who works with harness horses, said, “The fact that Maryland will offer slots at their racetracks will thrust the knife deeper into New Jersey’s racing industry.”
Dr. David Meirs II, owner of Walnridge Farm in Upper Freehold Township, said Maryland, unlike New York and Pennsylvania, is far enough away that its slot approval would not have a tremendous impact on New Jersey racing.
Meirs noted that New York City residents can now go to Yonkers Raceway instead of Atlantic City to play slots. In his view, the casino industry has “a complete stranglehold” on New Jersey.
“The only way I think we will get slots at the track is if someone in the Atlantic City industry thinks it will be beneficial to have an outlet in the New York City area,” he said.
For driver and trainer Jacqueline Ingrassia, an Upper Freehold Township resident and the first woman to win a Triple Crown race at the Breeders’ Cup, the Maryland slots vote is “just another nail in the coffin of racing in New Jersey.”