DATE: Saturday, March 22, 1997              TAG: 9703220014

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: OPINION 

SOURCE: KERRY DOUGHERTY

                                            LENGTH:   81 lines

OFF-TRACK BETTING SUCKS MONEY OUT OF LOCAL ECONOMY

How much money do you suppose your average gambler spends each time he enters an off-track betting parlor?

I asked several co-workers and friends to hazard a guess and they all came up with the same ballpark figure - about $25 or $30.

Only a pool player of my acquaintance, who spends way too many hours in the shadowy underworld of Ocean View billiard halls, came close.

``About $200,'' he reckoned, taking a deep drag on a Marlboro.

Close. To be exact, it is $211.

I was stunned when I read this figure in an Associated Press business story about Colonial Downs this week.

AP reported that Virginia's first pari-mutuel track made its debut on Wall Street Tuesday, where track developers hope to raise part of the $54 million needed to build the race track in New Kent County and pay for opening four more off-track betting parlors around the commonwealth.

In the story, Colonial Downs spokesman Michael J. Mulvihill boasted that the two off-track parlors already operating in Virginia were a huge success, bringing in about $146,000 a day. So far, Mulvihill said, about 272,000 gamblers have visited the two parlors (one in Chesapeake, the other in Richmond). They are wagering about $211 a visit.

Proponents of legalized gambling and prospective investors in Colonial Downs stock probably think this is swell and only wish they could find a way to get gamblers to spend more. Virginians really seem to be warming to the notion of betting on horses without actually going to the track.

I find it alarming.

The $211 each bettor spent in an off-track parlor is money they didn't spend on something else. Presumably this dough is coming from that individual's discretionary-income fund. Unless he's betting the rent, food and child-support money, that is.

If those dollars were not being wagered at the off-track parlor, they might be spent on movies, restaurants, concerts, clothing, books or other forms of entertainment.

That should worry merchants and retailers in Chesapeake who are clearly losing out. It should also concern taxpayers. Little of that $211 per person per day stays in the Chesapeake. Sure, some money goes for taxes and rent on the building, but the bulk of the money wagered in the off-track parlors is figuratively bundled into armored trucks and driven straight to Colonial Downs, which is headquartered in New Kent County.

Since Hampton is Colonial Downs' next target for a betting parlor, residents there ought to think long and hard about whether they really want one in their city. Manassas Park voters told Colonial Downs to take a hike last year when the track developers tried to open a parlor there.

True, voters approved off-track betting in Hampton (as they have in Virginia Beach and many other jurisdictions), but they may not have considered the economic impact on local businesses. Hampton merchants ought to be forewarned that off-track betting sucks money out of the local economy, and puts very little back in.

Contrast that, for a moment, with golf courses.

Virginia Beach announced this week that it is ready to sign a contract with the PGA Tour for a Tournament Player's Club on its prime city-owned Lake Ridge property near the municipal center.

This is a tremendous coup for the city, which has been trying for several years now to transform itself into a golf mecca.

Most money generated by a championship golf course stays in the community. And it can be a sizable sum.

Unlike an off-track-betting parlor, which depends on gambling locals to keep it afloat, a TPC championship golf course will attract duffers from up and down the East Coast - perhaps from around the country - to Virginia Beach. And when golfers come to town they'll do more than buy a corn dog and Coke at the 7-Eleven. They'll stay in local hotels, dine in local restaurants, spend money in the golf pro shop and maybe even visit local attractions or the beach.

Not to mention the beauty of a rolling golf course, which preserves the rural character of a city while fueling the local economy.

It's a relief that Colonial Downs decided to bypass Virginia Beach when looking for a location for its next off-track parlor (there were rumors that the Beach was next). And it is absolutely wonderful news that the PGA Tour is building a TPC course at the Beach.

Off-track betting parlors are a great way to siphon cash out of the local economy. Golf courses are a splendid way to bring it in. MEMO: Ms. Dougherty is an editorial writer for The Virginian-Pilot.

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