Christie Wins - Does Racing?, Ohio Hurting

The voters of New Jersey have selected Chris Christie to be the next governor of the state of New Jersey and we offer our congratulations to him. Being we are here to talk about harness racing, I will leave the political analysis of his election to others.

That being said, the question is what happens next to racing? Standardbred horsemen in New Jersey apparently are happy with the election outcome as the local horsemen's group had quietly endorsed Christie. We hope they know something we don't. Based on his public
pronouncements, it is not apparent Christie is pro-racing. Here are some questions to ponder:

• What happens to Corzine's blue ribbon panel? Does it disband, does Christie ask them to continue on, or does he appoint his own panel?
• Does Christie go back on his word and now support VLTs? Can he get any meaningful legislation through a legislature controlled by the political opposition?
• Assuming VLTs don't get approved, does a new purse supplement agreement come to fruition?
• What happens to the NJSEA, operators of the Meadowlands? Does the NJSEA continue as is, get altered, or eliminated? What is the impact on the Meadowlands Racetrack?
• Does Freehold Raceway survive?

Make no mistake, I understand the anger horsemen had toward Corzine. They rightfully felt betrayed by Corzine who basically dismissed the work of his own blue ribbon panel before the panel completed their work. We don't dispute Corzine threw racing under the bus, here is hoping it doesn't turn out that Christie is at the wheel driving the bus.

While horsemen in New Jersey may be pleased with the election results, racing interests in Ohio are feeling gloomy. A constitutional ammendment to permit four free standing casinos in Ohio was approved. By 2012, casinos should be operational in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Toledo. The OHHA feels that a majority of racetracks in Ohio will close if the ammendment passed. Racing interests will now be focusing on another ammendment which will be voted on May 15 to allow VLTs at the racetracks. Even if racetrack VLTs are approved, the tracks wil lbe at a disadvantage as they will not be able to offer the table games the casino games will be offering. My guess is the first track to close will be Raceway Park in Toledo. Since Penn National Gaming owns Raceway Park, I suspect the track will be razed to make way for the full fledged casino.