The New York Gaming Association (NYGA) has launched a new statewide TV campaign to remind taxpayers that New York’s racetrack casinos are reliable partners for education as schools open for the new school year.
The nine racetracks that make up the Association have contributed $3.4 billion to education since 2004 – including more than $550 million so far in 2012, according to the New York Division of the Lottery’s website – enough to fund the annual salaries of approximately 12,255 teachers.
“The New York Gaming Association is a reliable partner for New York’s education system and we are incredibly proud of our record of successfully providing for the state’s school children,” James Featherstonhaugh, President of the New York Gaming Association said. “Our racetrack casinos have been part of the communities they serve for generations, providing not only entertainment, but positively contributing to communities by helping to control property taxes and funding education. We are committed to helping New Yorkers, and the proof is in our record of success.”
The new ad campaign will be launched in eight TV markets, including New York City, Albany, Buffalo and Rochester, and will run for at least two weeks as students return to schools across New York.
Last month, NYGA announced that its members, which operate at a tax rate of 68 percent, have generated $620 million in revenue for New York, according to statistics covering the first six months of 2012. That is nearly double the amount of revenue the Las Vegas Strip and Atlantic City casinos generated for their home states combined despite having full-fledged casinos.
In fiscal year 2011-2012, revenue generated by NYGA members for education was equivalent to the annual salaries of approximately 9,610 teachers. In addition to funding for education, NYGA contributes to the state and the communities in which their racetrack casinos are located. In the same fiscal year (2011-2012), NYGA members generated approximately $26 million in aid to struggling local governments. Since 2004, NYGA members have generated over $170 million in aid to support local governments.
(NYGA)
Don; To me the glass is not
Don; To me the glass is not half empty, but rather half full! I have never been a quitter and do not hold a defeatest attitude. I hope most of my peers feel the same as I do. Please don't give up on Horse Racing in Ontario. The fight for our survival in this industry is definitely not over yet, so I don't believe it is too late for this type of advertising.
Many Ontarians still do not know the truth about the Revenue sharing agreement, and unfortunately believe only what they have been told by McGuinty and Duncan, that their tax dollars are going to subsidize Horse Racing in Ontario. As frustrating as this is to us, one has to be appreciative of their lack of support for our industry in these tough economic times, believing that they are struggling, paying higher utility costs, higher taxes, higher fuel costs, less and less take home of their hard earned dollars over the last nine years, and then are told, albeit a lie, that their hard earned tax dollars are subsidizing horse racing in Ontario.
This lie has done exactly what McGuinty and Duncan hoped it would do, that being turn the tax payers of Ontario with no first hand "truthful" knowledge of our industry, against Horse Racing, in favour of education and health care.
Now more than ever we need to use every resource we can, to get the truth out to the ordinary tax paying individuals of Ontario, because we are not the problem, we have been very much a part of the solution, contributing richly each and every year for the past 12 years, to the health and education in this Province. If, this has not been the case, then we need a further investigation into both the OLG and this Province's Government detailing exactly what was done with the billions of dollars contributed annually by the Slots-at-Racetracks program.
So, Don, I implore you, as dim as the future may look right now, please keep an open mind, a positive attitude, and at least of glimmer of hope for survival of Horse Racing in Ontario. We definitely need all the support we can get.
Just shows you. The picture
Just shows you. The picture shows a student at her computer. Hope she ends up better than some of her possible students /classmates here in Ontario.
Hey Carolyn,
Hey Carolyn,
These ads in Ontario today would likely be construed as "too little to late".
NY has implemented the ads long before any hint of pulling the plug.
Perhaps similar ads would have been effective in Ontario if they'd begun a decade ago.
Don Daniels
This is exactly the type of
This is exactly the type of advertising we need here in Ontario. Positive information with the facts and figures to back it up! TV Ads running during evening news, 6:00pm and 11:00 pm, on CTV and its affiliates, covering the whole province, I would think, would garner the most attention.