Gov’s people to Senate: Think NYRA

The latest chapter of the horse racing saga in New York State is being written in Albany as representatives for Governor Eliot Spitzer try to convince legislators to accept his plan.
There may be some writer’s block. The Republican-controlled Senate racing, gaming and wagering committee is not blithely playing along.
Spitzer has proposed that the New York Racing Association (NYRA) keep the franchise to operate Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga thoroughbred horse racing venues for another 30 years.
“What do we get in return for this?” demanded upstate Republican William Larkin, chair of the committee, referring to the $51 million the state gave NYRA last year and the $75 million payment that forms part of this year’s “Memorandum of Understanding” between Spitzer and the NYRA, which is still in bankruptcy.
Other bidders for the right to run the tracks have complained to the senate about the process, most recently Jeff Perlee, president of Empire Racing Associates, who complained that they were led to believe “that the state was offering a 20-year deal, rather than the 30-year renewal offered to NYRA.” A longer contract would be better for bidders than a shorter one.
Reaction to Spitzer’s plan in the senate has ranged from Majority Leader Joe Bruno’s “guarantee that this will not be the final product” to local Senator John Sabini’s concession that the deal “could use a little tweaking.”
Horse owners are complaining that Spitzer’s deal will hurt them because the percentage allocated to them is less than under the current NYRA franchise. “Obviously, we take a hit,” Alan Foreman, attorney for the owner’s association, told the senators.
Contributions by potential bidders have led to cynicism in the state capital, where it was widely assumed that no matter who submitted a bid to operate a Video Lottery Terminals (VLT) facility with 4,500 machines at Aqueduct by the October 15 deadline, the contract would go to Excelsior Racing Associates. The group includes big Spitzer contributors.
Empire Racing Associates, the other major bidder on the racing franchise, was linked to Bruno.
However, Paul Francis, Spitzer’s budget director, said at the end of September that Excelsior Racing Associates withdrew from the bidding process because of a lack of support by the Assembly to permit video lottery terminal casinos at Aqueduct and Belmont. State law only allows a VLT facility at Aqueduct.
Francis has projected that each Aqueduct VLT machine will collect $300 in revenue per day, rising to $400 in three years. He acknowledged that Empire City at Yonkers Raceway has fallen far short of expectations.
Regardless, he said, the state expects more than $600 million in total VLT revenue from the Aqueduct facility, out of which would come various percentages for NYRA, purses, vendors, and the state, though he has yet to explain his optimism.