THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 31, 1996 TAG: 9607310010
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 62 lines
When Virginians approved a 1988 referendum allowing pari-mutuel betting and horse racing, they were promised that this would be a boost for the state's thoroughbred industry. Instead of running at racetracks up and down the East Coast, Virginia's finest would be able to race at home.
But as the state saunters toward its first racetrack - Colonial Downs in New Kent County - it looks increasingly as if we were sold a bill of goods.
Instead of getting Saratoga Springs or Churchill Downs next summer, Virginia will probably wind up with a low-rent version of horse racing - if the track opens at all. Instead of a track with first-class amenities, the Colonial Downs investors appear to be planning little more than a large off-track-betting parlor. Horses will run around the track 30 days a year to lend an equine atmosphere to the place.
The investors admit that 75 percent of their revenues will come from off-track wagers - so any money spent on the racetrack is not good business for them.
At best, Colonial Downs could be an elegant addition to Virginia's economic development. At worst, it could be a seedy enterprise designed to give gamblers another place to squander their money.
``This is the biggest sham ever perpetrated on Virginia,'' declares state Sen. Kenneth Stolle (R-Virginia Beach). ``The Racing Commission made a terrible, terrible mistake in giving these people a license, and they've been bending over backward ever since to accommodate them.''
Staff writer David Poole reported this week that the Ohio investors who were licensed to build Colonial Downs had slashed their planned racing season from 102 days to 30. In addition, Poole visited Trinity Meadows, a Texas racetrack in which one of the principals is heavily invested. Poole's portrait of that third-rate track was not pretty.
The investor groups which tried to bring Virginia's maiden racetrack to either Virginia Beach or Portsmouth have cause to feel betrayed.
Virginia Beach and its investors - a group from Kentucky's Churchill Downs - were rejected because the Beach track would have had too short a racing season and would have emphasized simulcast racing over live racing.
In other words, these investors lost out because they were honest about their plans for ``Princess Anne Downs.''
Meanwhile, the New Kent County crowd promised pie in the sky: a long ``Saratoga-style summer race meeting'' with most of the emphasis on live racing.
What's next for Colonial Downs? Critics say it is just a matter of time before the investors approach the Racing Commission and demand to be allowed to have slot machines at the track. Introducing slots has beefed up purses at Delaware racetracks, and the Maryland state legislature is being asked to approve slot machines at Maryland's tracks, too. The Colonial Downs owners could argue that without slot machines to fatten purses, horsemen will take their mounts elsewhere.
Eight years ago, opponents of pari-mutuel betting worried that if Virginia allowed horse racing, other forms of gaming would follow. Their objections were drowned out by a chorus of horse racing supporters who said they just wanted to strengthen Virginia's thoroughbred industry.
The Virginia State Racing Commission could have yanked the license of the Colonial Downs crowd a long time ago. Instead, it has made one concession after another.
It's not too late for the commission to get back in the saddle. Colonial Downs should be required to live up to its commitments - or else. by CNB