Debating the "welfare" argument is fallacious at best. Obviously the harness industry today is reliant upon "other" sources of monies. I couldn't care less if it's true subsidies from the state, supplemental monies to the purse account, payments for not having VLT's or other gambling, or whatever. However, if the people who run race tracks continue to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to reality----then yes, one day they may find themselves out of business. No, not Gulfstream, and not the Meadowlands, and not a key few others.
They will eventually turn to "alternative revenue sources" -- entertainment, hospitality, real estate, and yes, casinos. My hope is that a track that is owned and operated by a real horseman, like Gural, get a casino. I also don't want to see a company that owns a racetrack, that starts out as a company that is focused on racing, transition and abandon racing simply to become a casino company. I think these examples will be Gulfstream, the Meadowlands, Woodbine/Mohawk, probably one or two of the tracks in PA, and as far as the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, too much political football, and CD is the lion who will eat what they kill. I'd like to see Santa Anita and Del Mar survive and thrive but I don't know if they will ever get the breathing room from the legislation, which is so stacked in the favor of the Indian tribes. NY is a bit of the same.
