This past weekend was a great day for New Jersey racing and Monmouth Park, with close to 61,000 people attending to see American Pharoah in the Haskell. Or was it? Horse racing, which used to be the only gambling in New Jersey, has taken a back seat to casino gambling and as such has seen the amount of thoroughbreds born here go from 465 in 2007 to 109 in 2014. Just last month, Showplace Farms, a training center that houses 400 Standardbred horses, just announced that it will be closing in October, ending a 35 year business and freeing up 150 acres for development in Western Monmouth County. Something has to be done to stabilize the horserace industry in New Jersey, because if we don’t, there will not be one.
Monmouth Park brought us the Breeders Cup here a few years ago, and on Sunday, brought American Pharaoh here, a Triple Crown winner. They are doing what they can to bring people to the park, adding a restaurant, a miniature golf course and adding events such as the food truck wars and Jersey wine and win. But these are not enough. In order to have racetracks such as Monmouth Park succeed, we need to supplement them with gambling revenues.
A similar venue, Oaklawn Jockey Club in Arkansas, has been in operation since 1904 and was able to turn its operation around by adding a racino to its property. Currently they are seeing 60,000 people come thru their doors for horse racing daily. Gaming revenues subsidize the purses for the winning horses and because of this; they are able to attract quality horses to their track. Monmouth Park on the other hand, has a 145 year history and is still a vibrant, beautiful, historical venue. Unfortunately, it is only able to draw this amount of people to a special event such as the Haskell because they are not able to provide substantial purses. Gaming revenues are not subsidizing the purses for the winning horses, so quality horses are generally not coming here and subsequently, the track is failing and horse farms are closing.
Why should New Jersey residents, especially those who don’t go to the tracks, care if the horse racing industry fails? According to a study done by Rutgers in 2006, horse racing employs approximately 6,000 persons statewide, with equine being the third largest agricultural product in New Jersey and the number one livestock commodity. Horses are found on 7,600 facilities in every county in New Jersey. Besides the economic importance of the industry, these 7,600 horse facilities maintain open space of 81,000 acres, which in turn provides an enhanced quality of life for New Jersey residents. If we stand by and do nothing, this would all go away. The jobs will be going to one of our neighboring states, the land will be developed.
Pennsylvania recently installed slot machines at seven racetracks, five casinos and two resorts which will be overseen by the Pennsylvania Gaming Board. They are anticipating the revenue generated per year will be 30 billion dollars. This money will not just benefit horse racing, it will be divided by giving 48% to the facility operators; 34% to the State of Pennsylvania; 5% towards economic development; 4% to local communities; and 9% for race purses. The breakup of these revenues is important to note, as this would work for New Jersey. If we were able to provide slots statewide, the economic boon would be for all the residents of the State. It would even benefit the Atlantic City casinos and the City of Atlantic City, who are both failing.
Atlantic City is dying and so is horse racing. Our legislature needs to revisit gambling revenues and gambling at racetracks or at other venues such as the ones proposed for Jersey City and the Meadowlands, now before it is too late. Wherever the additional gambling is allowed, a portion of the funds must be dedicated for the support of all our racetracks. Gambling is all around our New Jersey borders and our residents are flocking to them, bringing their money out of state. The mayor of Atlantic City, Don Guardian, said it best when he said “That $5 billion that people spent in Atlantic City on gaming is now being split by 30 casinos in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York, when just six years ago it all belonged to Atlantic City.” Since 2006, Atlantic City casino revenue has fallen by more than 41 per cent, and continues on the deep slide. Why travel an hour and a half to Atlantic City if you can cross over to a surrounding state in a half hour?
Governor Christie was booed by the 61,000 people that were at Monmouth Park last Sunday for his stance on gaming and horse racing. Please call, text or write him to ask him to revisit this before it is too late. Perhaps since he is running for President, he will have gained a better global vision of what it happening here and how he can help change it. I also encourage you to reach out to your local legislators, who can help unlock the hold that the Southern New Jersey legislators have on this important issue for the entire State, and can hopefully help them see that it is not just about them.
– Ellynn Kahle Oceanport Councilwoman
