{"id":20648,"date":"2017-04-18T13:13:32","date_gmt":"2017-04-18T17:13:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saratogaracetrack.com\/horse-racing-224\/?p=20648"},"modified":"2017-11-08T10:57:09","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T15:57:09","slug":"fighting-about-money-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saratogaracetrack.com\/horse-racing-224\/2017\/04\/fighting-about-money-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Fighting About Money—-Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gural wants tax break from New York State<\/strong><\/p>\n

The squabbling continues and who knows if it will ever end.\u00a0 Vernon Downs, the venerable 7\/8 mile track that is located near Utica was slated to open its 2017 season on Friday, April 21.\u00a0 But owner Jeffrey Gural, who also owns the Meadowlands and Tioga Downs says that the opening will be delayed because he is losing money due to new casinos that have opened in Tyre, NY and Schenectady, NY.\u00a0 Gural says that these casinos are impacting business at his \u201cracino,\u201d located at the track.<\/p>\n

For clarity, a casino is a full-fledged gaming operation with table games like poker, blackjack and roulette.\u00a0 A racino is all electronic with video gaming machines, electronic poker, roulette, etc.\u00a0 Gural is blaming the new casinos for the loss of $150,000 in revenues per month.<\/p>\n

We are in the new age of gambling, gambling, gambling.\u00a0 There are so many options for the gambler and like many other states; New York can\u2019t seem to build new facilities fast enough.\u00a0 Are we surprised that Vernon Downs is losing revenue?\u00a0 Turning Stone is nearby, Del Lago casino is nearby, and the Oneidas (they own Turning Stone) are planning on building another casino in Bridgeport which is slated to open in 2018.<\/p>\n

I was of the opinion that Gural could not change the opening of a harness track.\u00a0 The dates are set by the New York State Gaming Commission.\u00a0 The commission approves schedules and sets dates and in the past, has been steadfast on tracks adhering to the schedules.\u00a0 But Gural wants the New York State Legislature to lower the amount that Vernon Downs gives to the state to offset the loss in revenues caused by the casinos.<\/p>\n

Gural is a mystery man.\u00a0 On one hand, he has been great to harness racing.\u00a0 On the other, he is constantly bellyaching.\u00a0 He supports harness racing and operates tracks at a loss.\u00a0 He lamented the fact that New Jersey voters turned down a referendum that would have allowed for two casinos to be built in Northern New Jersey.\u00a0 He wants to clean up the sport, rid it of drug cheats and wants horses to keep running rather than head to the breeding shed after their three-year old seasons.\u00a0 These are very commendable measures.<\/p>\n

Gural knows that harness racing needs the prop up by either racinos or casinos and now he is complaining that these newer facilities are \u201ckilling\u201d Vernon Downs.\u00a0 Can one have it both ways?<\/p>\n

He is complaining that casinos are hurting his racino and therefore, he can\u2019t start the Vernon Downs racing season; yet, he owns a casino himself.\u00a0 Tioga Downs went from a harness track to a racino and is now a full-fledged casino.\u00a0 The 5\/8 mile facility is located in New York\u2019s Southern Tier in Nichols, NY, right off Route 17.<\/p>\n

I guess there are tons of people that have the discretionary incomes to support these casinos? But, how many is too many?\u00a0 Upstate New York is not known for being a bustling area, yet there are casinos, racinos, and horse racing tracks throughout the upstate region.\u00a0 For a person living in Syracuse, they can drive to Vernon Downs, Turning Stone, Del Lago, Finger Lakes and soon, the Bridgeport casino.\u00a0 Can all of these facilities survive?\u00a0 Is there enough money in people\u2019s pockets to ensure that all of these places can turn substantial profits?<\/p>\n

Gural is not losing money; he is just not making enough money.\u00a0 Like most businesspeople, he studies the spreadsheets and sees less profit, so he plays the easy card, saying he cannot open the harness track because he can\u2019t lose more money.\u00a0 He says that he loses money on harness racing\u2014which he probably does\u2014so it doesn\u2019t make sense to open up and lose more.\u00a0 But, the state required that racinos must offer harness racing, so if Gural doesn\u2019t open the race track, will he have to shut down the racino and hotel, too?<\/p>\n

Gural has made overtures that the future of the Meadowlands is in peril because there is no racino\/casino to help him out.\u00a0 These threats should be taken seriously by harness racing fans, but is Gural in some ways, the boy who cries wolf?\u00a0 He has a casino in Nichols and he has a racino in Vernon, yet he wants more concessions from the state and says he thinks Governor Andrew Cuomo will make it happen.\u00a0 Is Gural really \u201closing\u201d money as a corporation?<\/p>\n

We have been down this road a million times in both harness and horse racing.\u00a0 Purses have gone up, but attendance at the tracks has gone down.\u00a0 At some tracks, the grandstands are virtually empty, but thanks to off-track betting and now, casinos\/racinos, horse racing has stabilized.<\/p>\n

Gural makes money on gambling.\u00a0 He owns a casino, yet he is complaining about casinos.\u00a0 We get his point, but once the decision was made to allow Del Lago to build in Tyre, what did Gural and his Vernon associates do?\u00a0 Were they proactive or did they take the wait-and-see approach?\u00a0 They didn\u2019t just come to the conclusion that they are losing money at Vernon.\u00a0 They knew for months and only when they realized that tax concessions were not included in the fiscal year 2017 budget did they react by postponing the opening of harness racing at Vernon Downs.\u00a0 He thought the concessions would be included, but when they weren\u2019t, he cried like a baby and made the announcement regarding racing at the track.<\/p>\n

We may by dumb, but we\u2019re not stupid.\u00a0 We also understand Gural and at the same time can be puzzled by him.\u00a0 Owning a harness racing track is not an easy business to be in.\u00a0 Most do not turn a profit and the ones that do are buoyed by racino\/casino money.\u00a0 This year, Plainridge Park in Massachusetts is offering a $250,000 trot this summer.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because the racino is pumping in the needed money.<\/p>\n

Gural likes harness racing and is trying to do right by the sport.\u00a0 But, he knows his bread is buttered by racino\/casino revenues.\u00a0 He is upset that New Jersey voters shot him down and now he is upset that Del Lago and Rivers are taking away monies from his racino operation at Vernon Downs.<\/p>\n

This is a tricky triple edged sword.\u00a0 Harness racing seems to be sitting back and enjoying the revenues it derives from the casinos and racinos.\u00a0 Sitting back is not always the best thing to do.\u00a0 Where is the marketing?\u00a0 Where is the promoting of harness racing<\/em>?\u00a0 In Gural\u2019s case, why not market the opening of the 2017 racing season at Vernon Downs? Is the sport doing anything to bring in new fans?\u00a0 Why not use some of the gaming revenues to market the sport?\u00a0 We know that the horsemen are against it; they want every new and available cent to be used for purses and things related to the sport. But, if the sport is marketed better, handle would increase and as a result, so too would purses.<\/p>\n

Gural committed a gaffe this week.\u00a0 He is playing political hardball here.\u00a0 He has taken his ball and has gone home.\u00a0 The right thing to do is to open the track this Friday and work with the New York State Legislature and Governor Cuomo to resolve the issues.\u00a0 The one thing you can say about Governor Cuomo is he likes wheeling and dealing.\u00a0 He was able to step in and resolve the dispute between the Del Lago casino and Finger Lakes Racetrack.\u00a0 Finger Lakes gets some additional money from Del Lago, but has to race a few more days than they probably wanted to.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure Gural was all over this.\u00a0 He wants the same sort of deal and will probably get some relief.\u00a0 In return, let\u2019s hope Governor Cuomo makes Vernon Downs race a few more days each year.\u00a0 Let\u2019s not forget that before Vernon Downs got slots and a hotel it was a harness racing track.\u00a0 I think sometimes we do forget this very important aspect.<\/p>\n

In the end it\u2019s about money, always has been, always will be.\u00a0 We will hope for a quick resolution and a start to the 2017 racing season at Vernon Downs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Until next time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gural wants tax break from New York State The squabbling continues and who knows if it will ever end.\u00a0 Vernon Downs, the venerable 7\/8 mile track that is located near Utica was slated to open its 2017 season on Friday, April 21.\u00a0 But owner Jeffrey Gural, who also owns the Meadowlands and Tioga Downs says […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":189,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\r\nFighting About Money-Again - Horse Racing 224: Horse Tips & Stories By John Furgele<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saratogaracetrack.com\/horse-racing-224\/2017\/04\/fighting-about-money-again\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fighting About Money-Again - 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