Pending legislation likely to be voted on in April could determine life or death for two harness tracks seeking salvation via slots
. Rockingham Park in Salem, New Hampshire and Rosecroft Raceway in Fort Washington, Maryland say their futures are dependent on passage of the bills.
In New Hampshire, the state Senate passed a slots bill last week, by a 14-10 vote, a measure that would give slots to Rockingham. Yesterday, in a spirited session, the House took up the measure with Sen. Rockingham Park in Salem, New Hampshire and Rosecroft Raceway, longtime backer of the proposal, calling it an economic stimulus and job creation package. D’Allesandro said Rockingham Park could be up and operating a racino within six months after passage of the enabling legislation, and he challenged opponents, saying: “If there’s a better way, I suggest you bring it forward.”
The bill as passed by the Senate calls for up to 17,000 machines in the state, and when questioned about that number D’Allesandro said: “I’m not sure we would ever get to the 17,000 number.” Rockingham president Ed Callahan was on hand for the hearing, along with William Wortman, co-principal of Millennium Gaming, which has an option to buy the track and says it will do so and spend $450 million to renovate it if slots are approved.
In Maryland, the House of Delegates is considering H.B. 608, which would expand the law already passed but not yet in effect providing slots for the state. If that measure passes, Mark Vogel, who once owned Rosecroft Raceway and is trying to buy it again, thinks he and the track have a chance. “Without alternative gaming,” Vogel says, “Rosecroft will close. If we have to wait two years (for a public referendum) I don’t think I’ll try again. We’ve got a chance of getting it.”
Veteran Maryland racing writer Rick Snider wrote: “There’s a lot of lobbying and arm twisting coming.”
One Maryland legislator, state Senator C. Anthony Muse, wrote to the state’s governor, Martin O’Malley, last week, saying the state’s harness racing industry is “being discriminated against” by the present racing commission and charging that the commission chairman, John B. Franzone, is serving a third consecutive term in violation of Maryland law. Muse, who has introduced legislation calling for separate thoroughbred and harness commissions, noted in his letter to O’Malley that only one of Maryland’s 10 current racing commissioners has any significant experience in harness racing.
(Harness Tracks of America)