Senate Democrats want you to know how much they feel that Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos is costing the state by blocking the Delaware North deal to operate the racino at Aqueduct. The calculation, which will be updated daily, is based on the $370 million fee the company has offered, plus $1 million per day, starting on October 11. [Hat tip to Irene Jay Liu at Capital Confidential.]
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Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Big A Calculus
Posted by Alan Mann at 4:16 PM
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13 Comments:
The $1 million per day number was cooked up in a good economy. Belmont's handle is down 10% so you can apply at least a 10% haircut to the Big A forecast.
Are you serious? VLT's were legalized when and now they want to start the clock, I got an idea start the clock in "10 days" no start it "imminent" no start it "any day now." How many delays has the state of NY put based on meritless issues and now they want to criticize Sen Skelos. Seriously are we this gullable. Good for the Sen however unfortunately he will give in sooner or later based on political pressure and then we can all be proud of Del North and their far inferior product providing everyone with more then enough reason to go to CT or AC. I for one am supporting the delay of the inevitable.
You blew the quote on Indian Blessing's workout the other day. The full final sentence was: 'It was perhaps not as brilliant as her work over dirt, but it did not show enough to suggest the Pro-Ride might prove a major chink in her armor.' Very different meaning than what you said.
So Paterson and Silver pick the "inside" political choice, essentially the NYRA's favorite since the beginning, and we are all supposed to blame the guy that says "no" to the fix? Do the Dems think that all New Yorkers are that dumb?
Where are the NY Horsemen – your livelihood is at stake.
Never forget Delaware North, walked out on Empire Racing (us horsemen), Dennis Brida representing NY Breeders and countless others, just over 2 years ago this month.
They promised they would look after us, after we had invited them in to bid for the NYRA franchise, but when they saw Empire had run out of funds bidding for the franchise,
they suddenly formed their own bidding group for the Aqueduct project.
Like hell they have. They have only promised large monies up front
to satisfy potentially short term pollies bottom line, whose names we won't remember, when another winter bites unforgiving into our backstretch, doing little to
all of the grassroot racing folk.
Marylou and her husband are helping, but we need every
abled body community member out fighting against Governor Paterson's decision to aware
the Aqueduct and maybe Belmont, to racing parasites.
Long term, consistant drip fed
monies are obviously essential
to any blind 'son, for our communities to survive in these real tough times..
Keep NYRA honest, placing DelNorth near a proven incompetent racing model no-matter, where the chairs are placed, detracts from everything NY State, various affected community and NY racing groups have been trying to achieve in past few years.
Make a Community Stand & Vote against Paterson & his legalised co-hoots.
The Little Guy Does Count.
I agree with about 98% of what "Watchful Horseman" is saying, but I do need to point out for the record that NY horsemen -- i.e., the NY Thoroughbred Horsemen's Ass'n, of which I'm a Director -- have been pressing Albany for years to move forward on the slots at Aqueduct. It's been a VERY frustrating experience.
Can you imagine if this was Bruno doing the damage.
Alan would be having a fit.
If they ever put poker at the track horse racing is done.
You can take your high takeout and fade away.my money is going to Poker.
Thanks Steve Thorn.
What's the other 2%?
Concerning this community Aqueduct issue mainly, will you march with us, protesting against Paterson when you get the signal ?
Interesting thread. Seems the NYRA/Spitzer and Paterson suspicion is shared by more than one poster. Hard to belive that Paterson supports this "ugly" deal that former Governor Spitzer put together so many months ago while the game of politcs and charades was played. Racing was the lead, now its buried. Be careful horsemen, have a look at PA, DE, FLA if you want to see what gaming at race tracks has done for your fan base and handle. Purse subsidies only last for as long as it takes for some good politician to realize that keeping open an emergency room at an inner city hospital or building a new school, or providing senior care is a much bettr use of the public's money than giving it to an enterprise that is dying and uninterested in making itself better. NY horsemen should be concerned and at the forfront of the current conversation. Instead they are in the NYRA's back pocket, with no "say" just a "trust me" from the infamous racing operator.
Sounds like the NY horsemen put their apples in the wrong saddle, if they think NYRA, DelNorth or the legislature has their best interests in mind. Speaking of that, this thread reminded me of something: Did NYRA ever reimburse the horsemeen's account of the $16 million or so that it used for its business purposes, without the horsemen's consent? Maybe it was part of the bankruptcy resolution.
Anybody know?
It's been a long time since I lived in NYS, but I'm curious about some things that keep popping up:
Didn't Skelos start this whole pissing contest by criticizing Paterson for not making a selection and pointing out how much the delay was costing the State? The skeptic in me says that Paterson made a selection just to defuse that issue for the election.
What's wrong with upfront payments? My experience with developers is that I'd rather have their money than their promises. And the more money a developer has in the deal, the greater its incentive to get slots online and money flowing as quickly as possible.
What did Delaware North do at Finger Lakes to annoy people? I've been to Finger Lakes quite a few times (a financial mistake, in retrospect), but that was long before slots.
Seems like the GOP has made the calculator disappear!
bitplayer - yes i suppose you can say that skelos precipitated this by prodding paterson on the selection, but you can't blame him for that. the delay has been ridiculous. And he had to at least suspect that it was going to be Del North. I suspect this all has to do with the election, the close swing races in Ozone Park and Buffalo (where Del North is based), and the animosity over Paterson's now-active involvement.
Nothing wrong with upfront payments, but the community is apparently upset that Del North has not reached out to them. But don't really know how much of this is politics. And you're right that Del North doesn't seem to have many admirers; can't really comment on that.
And to the commenter who said I'd be having if fit if this was Bruno, I think that I was relatively fair to him considering my lefty bias, and gave him due credit when he acted in the interest of the sport.
For those questioning the difference between a Finger Lakes casino model versus a Mohegan Sun casino model it is clear, as is the case with Paterson, that they don't understand Mega Resort versus "slots in a box." Even Hard Rock in Florida draws patrons due to the allure of many amenities not just a cheap slot product. Del develops low end products with sub par physical amenities and thus draw a sub par patron count. Let's compare the AC market, Borgata is a market killer as it is an upgraded pristine casino compared to Tropicana/Trump and the list goes on. People want the "pizzaz" that Pfeffer has mentioned and unfortunately that is not what Aqueduct is getting.
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