Meadowlands handle fails to top $3 million

[Mr Feinstein]

Meadowlands is doing okay ✅

[simplify]

curious on the break even point being used here. What's your calc?

[Grandstand Handicapper]

If there really is a simple, linear, break-even number, nobody is going to know what it is-----only what Gural says it is. I don't think it's simply about $3mm. Statistics don't lie, but statisticians do, and in the harness game you can give me decimal-based numbers all you want, but handle is trending down. It may be a slow decline, but it's a decline. Countless reasons. There is no harness track in North America that is going to buck that trend. Nobody is in a position to. The sport and industry is not in a position to.

All the efforts, longer races, shorter races, promos, food truck festivals, zebra races, and so on.....will soon be rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.....until the Meadowlands gets other revenue streams.....and Gural is focused on a casino. He should be. That's his solution. If the referendum passes, and they give the casino to someone else, Gural ain't no dummy. He's smart. He will weigh getting his check for the unamortized cost of what he spent (and potentially closing), versus whatever revenue, subsidy, etc., deal he would make. MGM and Genting may have an edge in NY, but Gural has to hope they get the casino license for downstate. If he claims he's losing money now, what's the point of arguing and to what end. Anyone and everyone's opinion, bitching and moaning, accusations, etc., doesn't count for anything. Positive, negative, part of the problem, solution, whatever. Me, I want to see what happens at the next two meetings and what Gural does and handles the CAW situation-----if he does-----even though it will not bring about a substantial increase in handle.

[Papillon]

Why do people think Gural is getting a casino?

I don't get it

its not happening

[Grandstand Handicapper]

I think people see a few things-----one, the last referendum was designed to fail. It was a sacrificial lamb and part of a negotiated package. Ask citizens of NJ whether or not they want a casino outside AC, or ask them whether or not they want a casino at the Meadowlands, and I think you will get two different answers. Maybe not enough to pass, but still different. Two, and what may change that is when casinos are opened in downstate NY. Get casinos there, whether it be Yonkers, Aqueduct, NYC, the Hudson River, whatever, and that changes a lot.

Personally, I think you'll see at least one casino outside AC in the next 15 years.

[Papillon]

I think people see a few things-----one, the last referendum was designed to fail. It was a sacrificial lamb and part of a negotiated package. Ask citizens of NJ whether or not they want a casino outside AC, or ask them whether or not they want a casino at the Meadowlands, and I think you will get two different answers. Maybe not enough to pass, but still different. Two, and what may change that is when casinos are opened in downstate NY. Get casinos there, whether it be Yonkers, Aqueduct, NYC, the Hudson River, whatever, and that changes a lot.

Personally, I think you'll see at least one casino outside AC in the next 15 years.

[/b]

I certainly agree with that


but I am also fairly certain it wont be before 2030--and I doubt Gural will continue to wait it out

[Grandstand Handicapper]

He can't...he's too old, LOL.

[BigMFan]

A ballot question was asked (want to say 5 years ago) and people voted was like 80% to no casino in northern NJ.  Roads are disaster, people here are getting taxed to death, I don’t see a casino happening in northern NJ and I’m not sure why Gural thinks this is going to change.

[Parked]

A ballot question was asked (want to say 5 years ago) and people voted was like 80% to no casino in northern NJ.  Roads are disaster, people here are getting taxed to death, I don’t see a casino happening in northern NJ and I’m not sure why Gural thinks this is going to change.

Those are 2 reasons there will be a casino in Northern N J.  As soon as NJ sees all the jersey license plates at Aqueduct casino the ball will start rolling.   

[pocketrocketwinner]

If there really is a simple, linear, break-even number, nobody is going to know what it is-----only what Gural says it is. I don't think it's simply about $3mm. Statistics don't lie, but statisticians do, and in the harness game you can give me decimal-based numbers all you want, but handle is trending down. It may be a slow decline, but it's a decline. Countless reasons. There is no harness track in North America that is going to buck that trend. Nobody is in a position to. The sport and industry is not in a position to.

All the efforts, longer races, shorter races, promos, food truck festivals, zebra races, and so on.....will soon be rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.....until the Meadowlands gets other revenue streams.....and Gural is focused on a casino. He should be. That's his solution. If the referendum passes, and they give the casino to someone else, Gural ain't no dummy. He's smart. He will weigh getting his check for the unamortized cost of what he spent (and potentially closing), versus whatever revenue, subsidy, etc., deal he would make. MGM and Genting may have an edge in NY, but Gural has to hope they get the casino license for downstate. If he claims he's losing money now, what's the point of arguing and to what end. Anyone and everyone's opinion, bitching and moaning, accusations, etc., doesn't count for anything. Positive, negative, part of the problem, solution, whatever. Me, I want to see what happens at the next two meetings and what Gural does and handles the CAW situation-----if he does-----even though it will not bring about a substantial increase in handle.

Hoosier is going to buck that trend with prewitt. He lowered take out, got rid of junk jackpot wagers, adjusted minimums which will create Carryovers and doesn't treat people who wager on horse racing as 3rd class, degenerate, pieces of shit like all the other tracks. There is plenty that meadowlands can do to increase handle if they really wanted to care about it while they wait for a casino.

[Papillon]

Those are 2 reasons there will be a casino in Northern N J.  As soon as NJ sees all the jersey license plates at Aqueduct casino the ball will start rolling.

nonsense--but it is a very popular theory

[Grandstand Handicapper]

A ballot question was asked (want to say 5 years ago) and people voted was like 80% to no casino in northern NJ.  Roads are disaster, people here are getting taxed to death, I don’t see a casino happening in northern NJ and I’m not sure why Gural thinks this is going to change.

First, the question on the referendum was would you approve casinos outside AC----not would you approve a casino at the Meadowlands. That's the first difference. Like I said I think you will get two different answers----and again, maybe not enough to pass, but still I think it will be different. This is what Gural thinks. He's said so. Second, maybe it changes things, maybe it doesn't, but when casinos open in downstate NY, that may change people's----and politicians---minds.

NJ residents have always been of the NIMBY mindset----casinos, low income housing, senior housing, shopping malls, and so on. The difference is that nobody lives at the Meadowlands. Sure, the closest residents might disapprove. I get it. But like I said, it may not pass, but I think it changes things.

[stanetelman]

Saturday 3/15 handle
$3,067,559
11 out of 21 cards handling over $3 million
$513,048 below break even point

Friday 3/21 handle
$2,645,674
11 out of 22 cards handling over $3 million
$867,374 below break even point

Saturday 3/22 handle
$3,208, 633
12 out of 23 cards handling over $3 million
$658,741 below break even point

[Sunmoon 1219]

Race all year and lose a million just a small write off for Gural and his billionaire friends.

[Pacer 2]

Gural loves the sport and is a big contributor to harness racing. When Tioga had that fire he stepped up huge.