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Monday, August 6, 2001
By HERB JACKSON
Trenton Bureau
A new law enacted Sunday will make betting on horses in New Jersey as easy as picking up the phone, and it will allow off-track betting in up to 15 locations strategically placed around the state in coming years.
Amid the hoopla of Haskell day at Monmouth Park, where a crowd of 47,127, saw Point Given narrowly win the season's premier thoroughbred stakes race, acting Gov. Donald T. DiFrancesco signed a bill that supporters say will eventually bring an extra $300 million to $400 million into racing.
"Horse racing is a vital part of New Jersey -- our economy, our tradition, our culture, our sporting history," DiFrancesco said. "To honor its place in our state, we ought to support all the people who make their livelihood in thoroughbred and standardbred racing."
The legislation was hailed as necessary medicine for an ailing industry beset by competition from other forms of gambling and by other states' efforts to boost their racing operations with state funding, slot machines, and off-track wagering.
Among those on hand to applaud the new law were horse owners and trainers, and officials from communities worried that an end to racing would turn thousands of acres of horse farms into even more condos and strip malls.
"You hear a lot from the farmers that if you want to preserve farmland, preserve the farmer," said Assembly Speaker Jack Collins, R-Salem. "What we're doing when we help horse owners is we help the farms and keep open space."
If all goes according to plan, the ability to place bets over the phone or at an upscale restaurant will attract new players to racing, advocates say, providing bigger purses at tracks that will then be able to attract the best horses.
The state this year provided an $18 million direct cash supplement to track purses for the first time. At Monmouth, it meant daily purses averaging more than $300,000 and helped stem the trend of top trainers taking their horses to run in other states. Attendance this year is averaging 10,500 a day, or 9.8 percent ahead of last year.
Another sign of the impact of bigger purses was on display Sunday, where the purse for the annual Haskell Invitational was increased from $1 million to $1.5 million to attract 1-5 favorite Point Given, the winner of this year's Belmont Stakes and the Preakness, two legs of racing's Triple Crown.
But critics, including state Sen. William Schluter, R-Mercer, railed in vain against the new law.
"I don't have a problem with OTB, but account wagering is the dirty little secret of this law," said Schluter, now an independent candidate for governor. Account wagering allows patrons to withdraw their bets from accounts set up in advance.
"Account wagering is very, very bad public policy," Schluter continued. "The government is using human weakness as a source of revenue. People who have a compulsive or pathological gambling problem will be able to bet from the privacy of their own home, and the only thing that will stop them is when they run out of money."
Supporters say phone wagering is just the latest trend in racing, and New Jersey has to keep up or lose an important industry.
"While some say this is an expansion of gambling, I see it as defensive," said Assemblyman Guy R. Gregg, R-Washington, Morris County, a sponsor of the bill, which provides $200,000 a year for treatment of compulsive gamblers. "States around us have been doing this type of business for a number of years, and we have to be sensitive to that competition."
New Jersey led the nation when it developed the idea of simulcasting races from one track to another in the 1980s, but has fallen behind when it came to later innovations, according to Lonny Powell, president of Racing Commissions International in Lexington, Ky.
"I cannot think of another state with any major horse racing activity that does not have off-track wagering," he said. In addition, he said account wagering by phone is available in New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and five other states already, and Delaware supplements purses by allowing slot machines at tracks.
New Jersey racing interests originally wanted slot machines at the tracks to boost purses, but Atlantic City casinos lobbied against it. A compromise called for the state to bolster purses with tax dollars until voter approval could be won to amend the constitution to legalize off-track and phone wagering. Voters in 1998 authorized the Legislature to set up a phone wagering and OTB system, but lawmakers have struggled since then with a host of competing interests.
For example, owners of standardbred horses, who pull a driver in harness races, battled with thoroughbred owners over how to divide the proceeds of the new wagering system. New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which owns Monmouth Park and the Meadowlands Racetrack, also battled with thoroughbred owners over how many days of live racing should be held.
A bill that passed the Legislature last year required at least 170 days, but Gov. Christie Whitman vetoed it in September and suggested 120. The law DiFrancesco signed Sunday provides for at least 141 days of live thoroughbred racing annually during the next three years.
Lawmakers also had to referee disputes between the sports authority and lobbyists for municipalities and restaurant owners over how much local approval would be needed for an off-track betting site, and whether it would need to buy a local liquor license. In the end, towns were given the power to veto an off-track wagering site, and public hearings will be required. The betting parlors would also have to buy a liquor license in the local market.
The law takes effect in 180 days, during which the sports authority will work to set up a phone wagering system. The law authorizes up to 15 off-track betting sites, no more than eight of which would open in the first two years.
Authority spokesman John Samerjan said the first one would probably open some time at the end of next year, and the plan is to have 10 open within five years.
Advocates say the goal is to avoid the New York model of cramped storefronts with flickering fluorescent lighting and sticky linoleum floors and instead go for Pennsylvania's model built around upscale restaurants.
"The storefront looks like a place where you go to hide to bet, as opposed to a place where you go to have a nice evening," Gregg said. "If people just want a place to bet, they'll be able to use the phone. But if they want to enjoy a meal, a beverage, conversation, and be in a group and play a few races, this is the opportunity we want to create."
New York City unveiled a plan last week to transform 75 OTB sites into neighborhood entertainment and gambling centers that serve food and have tables and couches.
By HERB JACKSON
Trenton Bureau
A new law enacted Sunday will make betting on horses in New Jersey as easy as picking up the phone, and it will allow off-track betting in up to 15 locations strategically placed around the state in coming years.
Amid the hoopla of Haskell day at Monmouth Park, where a crowd of 47,127, saw Point Given narrowly win the season's premier thoroughbred stakes race, acting Gov. Donald T. DiFrancesco signed a bill that supporters say will eventually bring an extra $300 million to $400 million into racing.
"Horse racing is a vital part of New Jersey -- our economy, our tradition, our culture, our sporting history," DiFrancesco said. "To honor its place in our state, we ought to support all the people who make their livelihood in thoroughbred and standardbred racing."
The legislation was hailed as necessary medicine for an ailing industry beset by competition from other forms of gambling and by other states' efforts to boost their racing operations with state funding, slot machines, and off-track wagering.
Among those on hand to applaud the new law were horse owners and trainers, and officials from communities worried that an end to racing would turn thousands of acres of horse farms into even more condos and strip malls.
"You hear a lot from the farmers that if you want to preserve farmland, preserve the farmer," said Assembly Speaker Jack Collins, R-Salem. "What we're doing when we help horse owners is we help the farms and keep open space."
If all goes according to plan, the ability to place bets over the phone or at an upscale restaurant will attract new players to racing, advocates say, providing bigger purses at tracks that will then be able to attract the best horses.
The state this year provided an $18 million direct cash supplement to track purses for the first time. At Monmouth, it meant daily purses averaging more than $300,000 and helped stem the trend of top trainers taking their horses to run in other states. Attendance this year is averaging 10,500 a day, or 9.8 percent ahead of last year.
Another sign of the impact of bigger purses was on display Sunday, where the purse for the annual Haskell Invitational was increased from $1 million to $1.5 million to attract 1-5 favorite Point Given, the winner of this year's Belmont Stakes and the Preakness, two legs of racing's Triple Crown.
But critics, including state Sen. William Schluter, R-Mercer, railed in vain against the new law.
"I don't have a problem with OTB, but account wagering is the dirty little secret of this law," said Schluter, now an independent candidate for governor. Account wagering allows patrons to withdraw their bets from accounts set up in advance.
"Account wagering is very, very bad public policy," Schluter continued. "The government is using human weakness as a source of revenue. People who have a compulsive or pathological gambling problem will be able to bet from the privacy of their own home, and the only thing that will stop them is when they run out of money."
Supporters say phone wagering is just the latest trend in racing, and New Jersey has to keep up or lose an important industry.
"While some say this is an expansion of gambling, I see it as defensive," said Assemblyman Guy R. Gregg, R-Washington, Morris County, a sponsor of the bill, which provides $200,000 a year for treatment of compulsive gamblers. "States around us have been doing this type of business for a number of years, and we have to be sensitive to that competition."
New Jersey led the nation when it developed the idea of simulcasting races from one track to another in the 1980s, but has fallen behind when it came to later innovations, according to Lonny Powell, president of Racing Commissions International in Lexington, Ky.
"I cannot think of another state with any major horse racing activity that does not have off-track wagering," he said. In addition, he said account wagering by phone is available in New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and five other states already, and Delaware supplements purses by allowing slot machines at tracks.
New Jersey racing interests originally wanted slot machines at the tracks to boost purses, but Atlantic City casinos lobbied against it. A compromise called for the state to bolster purses with tax dollars until voter approval could be won to amend the constitution to legalize off-track and phone wagering. Voters in 1998 authorized the Legislature to set up a phone wagering and OTB system, but lawmakers have struggled since then with a host of competing interests.
For example, owners of standardbred horses, who pull a driver in harness races, battled with thoroughbred owners over how to divide the proceeds of the new wagering system. New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which owns Monmouth Park and the Meadowlands Racetrack, also battled with thoroughbred owners over how many days of live racing should be held.
A bill that passed the Legislature last year required at least 170 days, but Gov. Christie Whitman vetoed it in September and suggested 120. The law DiFrancesco signed Sunday provides for at least 141 days of live thoroughbred racing annually during the next three years.
Lawmakers also had to referee disputes between the sports authority and lobbyists for municipalities and restaurant owners over how much local approval would be needed for an off-track betting site, and whether it would need to buy a local liquor license. In the end, towns were given the power to veto an off-track wagering site, and public hearings will be required. The betting parlors would also have to buy a liquor license in the local market.
The law takes effect in 180 days, during which the sports authority will work to set up a phone wagering system. The law authorizes up to 15 off-track betting sites, no more than eight of which would open in the first two years.
Authority spokesman John Samerjan said the first one would probably open some time at the end of next year, and the plan is to have 10 open within five years.
Advocates say the goal is to avoid the New York model of cramped storefronts with flickering fluorescent lighting and sticky linoleum floors and instead go for Pennsylvania's model built around upscale restaurants.
"The storefront looks like a place where you go to hide to bet, as opposed to a place where you go to have a nice evening," Gregg said. "If people just want a place to bet, they'll be able to use the phone. But if they want to enjoy a meal, a beverage, conversation, and be in a group and play a few races, this is the opportunity we want to create."
New York City unveiled a plan last week to transform 75 OTB sites into neighborhood entertainment and gambling centers that serve food and have tables and couches.