A pair of very newsworthy items came out of Rutgers University's New Jersey gaming forum, which took place Thursday, March 31: Jeff Gural needs an extension in order to sign a lease deal for the Meadowlands Racetrack, and Jon Hanson believes New Jersey horse racing can be successful

.

Gural revealed that he is not ready to meet today's lease-agreement deadline. He cited the lack of an agreement with unions which represent racetrack workers and said that he will be asking for a two-week extension from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

Late last week, Gural announced that he had pulled off a major feat in corralling $100 million in financing to allow him to move forward with his Meadowlands vision, but that the unions were the only issue.

The keynote speaker for the Rutgers forum was none other than Jon Hanson, architect of the now-infamous 'Hanson Report' which called for horse racing at the Meadowlands to cease.

Hanson had an interesting comment during the forum, as he stated that “The bottom line for our perspective, our commission, is that horse racing and gaming still face an uphill battle, but we believe they can be successful.”

In addition to Gural and Hanson, other forum members included Robert E. Mulcahy III (former president and CEO of the NJ Sports and Exposition Authority), Thomas Carver (former Chairman, of the NJ Casino Reinvestment Development Authority), Karyn Malinowski (director of Rutgers Equine Science Center), Suzette Parmley (business reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer), Jim Simpson (proprietor of breeder Hanover Shoe Farms) and Chris Woronka (vice president and senior research analyst for Deutsche Bank Securities).

(With files from the Asbury Park Press and njbiz.com)

Related Stories

• Exploring The Future Of Gaming In NJ
• Gural Has Money Lined Up For Meadowlands