NYRA
There was a commentary in the Thoroughbred Times this
weekend calling for Governor Cuomo to appoint a “cold-hearted” CEO of NYRA. The author wants the fans to be put first.
There is some real merit to the article, but I think the
author wants to take this in the wrong direction.
NYRA has always been run by horse racing people. People who know and love the business. I think the flaw in the business model may
lie there. NYRA has a long and storied
history of running NYRA, as a business, into the ground, and then screaming for
the tax payers to bail it out.
What New York State needs is a cold hearted CEO, who can run
NYRA like a business. With the baskets
full of cash coming from the VLT’s this can be done. NYRA can succeed. NYRA can be profitable (or at least not lose
its’ shorts). But it is going to have
to be run like a business. There are
people in the private sector in the associated fields of gaming and horse
racing who have experience doing this.
NYRA should not be run just to make the fans happy. NYRA should be run to work for all of New
York, including the tax payers. These
matters do not have to be mutually exclusive.
A successful business will produce something that their customers will
want to spend money on and not run at a loss.
I think it is time that NYRA was run by an Accountant who
knows gaming and horse racing. Someone
who will make the hard cuts that others cannot or will not.
Rant over.
Cuomo can install a good, coldhearted CEO at NYRA with marching orders to put fans first. (Not a COO. Not a CFO, but an experienced CEO.) Fans want the modern sports model, so the direction is clear.
*
* *
A coldhearted CEO at NYRA can say
to the other racing jurisdictions, "We need for Thoroughbred racing to have
a strong national presence in all of our major markets to have growing public
support and to maximize our off-track wagering."Where does Cuomo find this individual who is going to change the face of Thoroughbred racing in the media capital of the world?
Once a business plan and preliminary projections are in black and white, I don't think he will have to look very far. You know, if a coldhearted CEO can make it there, they can make it anywhere.
The Economic Engine of Indian Gaming
I cite below two news reports from California and Oklahoma
describing the enormous economic impact of Indian Gaming in those States. So the Indian Nations in California and
Oklahoma have commissioned economic studies to point of to the state political leaders. This is a lesson that should not to be lost on
New York’s political leadership. States have a tendency to see Indian gaming enterprises as taking money away from the State and in the best of circumstances as a direct form of revenue generation for the State. This tends to put the Indian nations and the States in an adversarial position. However, the larger picture of the economic contribution must not be dismissed. The message of the California and Oklahoma tribes to their State governments is “Hey, the indirect benefit you will get from us being open way surpasses what you are trying to squeeze out of us directly.”
I am just sayin’.
Indian casinos in California
generate $7.5 billion in economic activity every year and have helped to create
52,000 jobs, according to a report released Wednesday.
The study, conducted for the
California Nations Indian Gaming Association by research firm Beacon Economics,
put the overall income collected by the employees at about $2.7 billion. The study
found that of the $7.5 billion in annual economic activity tied to the Indian
gaming industry, about $3.5 billion is generated directly from spending at
casinos.
A recent report by Casino City
Press, a leading comprehensive annual survey of gaming in the United States,
showed that in 2010 alone, gaming across the state had grown to nearly 2.33
percent of Oklahoma's economy. Tribal gaming is the most significant portion of
that growth. In fact, of the $210 million in revenue generated from gaming in
2010, $99.8 million came from casinos while the remainder resulted from the Oklahoma
lottery and the state's racetracks.
http://newsok.com/oklahoma-indian-gaming-boosts-revenue-creates-jobs/article/3699805#ixzz23RAKpLAZ
Saratoga Casino and Raceway has applied to Kentucky state
racing regulators to buy an interest in Ellis Park, a thoroughbred racetrack in
Henderson, Kentucky. The track was
designed after the Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York, and
features a 1.125 mile dirt track.
The documents don't indicate how much of an ownership stake
Saratoga Casino and Raceway is seeking at Ellis.
But Ellis Park owner Ron Geary has said that he has been
seeking a minority partner to invest $3 million to help pay for remodeling a
portion of the Henderson thoroughbred track's clubhouse into a casino-style
facility and accommodate Instant Racing gambling machines.
No comments:
Post a Comment