The Fort Erie Live Racing Consortium voted on Tuesday, June 5 at its annual general meeting to close the 115-year-old Fort Erie Race Track for good on December 31, 2012.
Purses at the historic border had been bolstered by a cut of revenue from the recently-shuttered slot machine area, which had housed the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.'s gaming terminals. When the OLG announced earlier this year that it was shutting down the machines, the FELRC was forced to address a $6 million shortfall in its $29 million operating budget.
“Based on what we know and what we’ve got, we had to designate the track for closing,” FLERC CEO Jim Thibert said after the AGM, according to a report by Buffalo Business First. “We had no choice. We needed that money as the source of our purse money.”
The report states that the Fort Erie Race Track, home to the Prince of Wales Stakes, the second jewel in the Canadian Triple Crown of thoroughbred racing, is the largest employer that the Town of Fort Erie has, as it employs roughly 2,000 individuals in peak season.
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Thats two tracks down and
Thats two tracks down and 2800 jobs eliminated so far not to mention the financial impact on OLG revenues and the PST and other tax losses to the Ontario Government. We should have a doomsday clock ad on the front page of some newspaper to keep people aware of what the toll is for the Ontario government decision to end the Slots at Racetracks program. The clock is ticking. Is Sarnia the next?