Is Woodbine Racetrack doomed without provincial funding?
Is Woodbine Racetrack doomed without provincial funding?
Get your summer afternoons at Woodbine in while you still can—breeders and horse folk are panicking over the Ontario government’s decision to end the Slots at Racetracks revenue-sharing program, which put $345 million a year into the provincial horse-racing industry. Though thoroughbred lovers say the change in funding could quite possibly kill the whole industry, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan said the province is cash-strapped and can’t afford to subsidize the tracks. He added that transitioning away from betting on the ponies is “absolutely in the best interest of all Ontarians.” (Well, except the breeders. And those who like to wear fabulous hats.) [Toronto Sun]
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Get your summer afternoons at Woodbine in while you still can—breeders and horse folk are panicking over the Ontario government’s decision to end the Slots at Racetracks revenue-sharing program, which put $345 million a year into the provincial horse-racing industry. Though thoroughbred lovers say the change in funding could quite possibly kill the whole industry, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan said the province is cash-strapped and can’t afford to subsidize the tracks. He added that transitioning away from betting on the ponies is “absolutely in the best interest of all Ontarians.” (Well, except the breeders. And those who like to wear fabulous hats.) [Toronto Sun]
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That’s enough of that sh*t track!
the real problems are much much more complicated than this article portrays so simplistically.
The Ontario government has neglected to tell you that the $345,000,000 the track recieves is 25% of the revenue from the slots. The Ontario government recieves 75% of the of the revenues from the slots, which comes to about a billion dollars a year. The Ontario government is actually being subsidized by the horse racing. So in reality the Ontario government would be better to put in twice as many tracks and be able to balance their budgets.
Typically the politicians create their own reality when looking to make headlines and further careers. Here the facts have been misconstrued again. Over the course of the agreement with Woodbine the track has paid into government $17 billion which someone should acknowledge and account for it’s use. The track also adds much more revenue to the economy by supporting the breeding industry, the agricultural industry, the travel and hotel industry and the food and beverage industry. The distortion of facts is not unique to Ontario, we here in New York fight the same battle.
I for one have no sympathy for Woodbine racetrack. The top executives run the place like a country club for themselves and their rich friends. These trust fund people have no clue what the real world is all about. Just look at who the new chairman of WEG is.