Last week, state officials announced that the financial health of Pennsylvania Racing Fund was declining and had reached a point where it could no longer sustain or protect the integrity of the racing industry.
Officials noted without a fix in place, racing may have to be suspended. A one-week timeline was instituted for all vested stakeholders to come to consensus on a solution to address the structural deficit.
This evening, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture provided the following update regarding the matter:
“Considerable progress has been made over the course of the last week, in particular, the last 24 hours,” said Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding. “We appreciate the engagement of all the parties – everyone from the track operators, the horsemen, and members of the General Assembly. While there is agreement on a vast number of the issues, more work remains on a few important, final points. We’ve asked all of the parties to reconvene tomorrow to further discuss these remaining issues. We remain optimistic.”
(Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture)