According to a report by the Concord Monitor, a provision in the House version of the New Hampshire state budget would allow the state's race tracks to quit running races on-site and essentially become off-track betting parlours
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"Live racing just doesn't generate the income that it takes to run it these days," spokesman and lobbyist Rick Newman was quoted as saying. "And we feel that we can do more with the money it costs us to run live racing to offer other entertainment."
According to the article, Rockingham Park manager Ed Callahan stated that he thinks it's a "good business decision" for the state to allow tracks to stop live-racing, but he doesn't think it's fair for the state to charge the tracks that keep live racing for the cost of enforcement.
At Rockingham, $1.4 million of the $65.8 million wagered in 2008 was bet on live harness racing, with the rest bet on simulcast races.
To read the article in its entirety, click here.
(With files from the Concord Monitor)
This lead-in to the Concord
This lead-in to the Concord Monitor article link is extremely slanted and misleading. The quote in the second graph is from a spokesman and lobbyist for the Lodge at Belmont, which has been pushing to end their live meet, NOT Rockingham Park. His association was not stated here as it was elsewhere. You should definitely read the linked article.
Brian de Jong
The government doesn't want
The government doesn't want to discontinue all programs that don't "pay for themselves" or they will all be out of business, the scoundrels. Has it ever occured to these omniscient psycopaths that horse racing entails more economic activity than simply opening the grandstand? Jerks, the lot of them.
Gordon Corey