Rosecroft has a new owner, Martin O'Malley's newest corporate welfare recipient, Penn Gaming. Penn Gaming has won the right to purchase the Rosecroft racetrack after a spirited bidding war.
This auction is barely after Penn Gaming and Magna attempted to kill racing at Pimlico and Laurel. Why continue the charade that Penn Gaming and Magna are interested in saving Horse Racing? The Governor is pushing for free, no-strings-attached subsidies specifically for Penn Gaming. If Governor Martin O'Malley was serious about Maryland or Horse Racing, why doesn't he have the recipients of this money sign over ownership of the Preakness? They can have a signed agreement the owner of Pimlico can run, manage, and keep all proceeds. At one point Martin O'Malley was talking of Eminent Domain, now Martin O'Malley just takes Penn Gaming's word the Preakness will not leave Maryland!
Here is, per Peter Carlino (Penn Gaming executive), Penn Gaming's official stance on Horse Racing from Penn National Gaming's 2010 Analyst call transcripts.
"We will ratchet down costs in Texas, we will ratchet down costs in Maryland and do whatever it takes. I mean, we need to be tough about that and we will be very tough and brutal about that. Because we have to. We're not running a public charity. We've made those statements publicly and we're going to right size those businesses over the next year or so, because we must. All that having been said, I still think that we can make the case that slots at racetracks make a tremendous amount of sense. And it isn't because it's going to boost the handle. I'm long since past trying to defend the idea that they believe in Maryland for example, that you approve the purses that somehow, miraculously, the quality of racing is going to improve and wonderful horses. The truth is they run the same old stuff, which is 2x or 3x as much. It has little impact on handle, because there aren't sufficient numbers of racing customers in the world anymore because they've died. And nothing's going to change that demographic. Now that having been said, I mean look, there's a place for racing, there's just too many racing dates. But you could argue, clearly, that slots are a very green activity at these tracks."
read more from the Analyst transcript...
So Peter Carlino/Penn Gaming believes Horse Racing is not a public charity yet persuades Martin O'Malley that Horse Racing is a public charity that deserves public subsidies free of any stipulations. The Maryland Jockey Club has failed to provide audited financial statements, as required under law, since 2007. (Industry insiders believe Maryland Jockey Club made millions in profits in 2007, 2008, and 2009 when you deduct payments to the prinipals and/or partners of MJC). An audit by the Legislative Audit Office in 2008 confirms the failure of MJC to provide audited statements, as does testimony by MJC before the Racing Commission in December 2010. Why has the Governor, his regulators, and the legislature allowed this to happen? Perhaps an outside Agency needs to examine.
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