By Bill Finley
Harness Racing Update
April 26, 2013
Jeff Gural is going off in his own direction is his battle to get gaming at the Meadowlands.
He's partnered with Hard Rock and says he's willing to give the state $350 million a year from the slots, a number he figures will be too big to resist, and doesn't seem too interested in taking care of the Atlantic City casinos.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie continues to maintain that he has no plans to allow casinos outside of Atlantic City but it is clear that state is getting closer to the point where the Atlantic City monopoly will be
toppled.
When and if that happens the best case scenario for New Jersey racing seems to be the opening of a casino at the Meadowlands.
But the Standardbred Breeders & Owners Association of New Jersey, the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association and management of Monmouth Park racetrack appear set to oppose Gural's bid unless he makes changes.
In particular, the horsemen don't believe Gural is earmarking nearly enough money for purses and fear that his plan will fail if he snubs the Atlantic City casinos.
"Jeff's plan doesn't work for a number of reasons," said SBOA President Tom Luchento, who has been Gural's longtime ally in the fight to save the Meadowlands and build a bright future for the track.
Gural said he wants to give 55 percent of the slots profits to the state of New Jersey, the same rate that is paid by the racinos to the state of Pennsylvania, and estimates that would bring $350 million annually into the state coffers. Of the other 45 percent, he has discussed giving 5 percent toward purses, with that sum divided between thoroughbred and standardbred racing. Gural says $20 million each will be added to thoroughbred and standardbred purses under his plan. It appears that he is aiming to have the remaining 40 percent of any slots profits go to the track operator, in this case his investors and himself.
"Getting 5 percent for purses and everything else isn't going to get it done," said Dennis Drazin, an advisor to the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association and the head of Darby Development LLC, which operates Monmouth. "We think Jeff is looking to give a lopsided amount to the track operator and not enough to the horsemen. We don't want to fight with Jeff. We all want to work together. But Jeff needs to have a more constructive conversation with everyone else involved in the process about the numbers and what the industry needs. If so, we'll be more than happy to support him."
Luchento added that Gural has also failed to earmark any money for Freehold Raceway purses or the struggling New Jersey Sire Stakes program, two aspects of the industry he says can't be overlooked. Luchento is also dismayed that Gural says he would not be interested in a significant increase in the Meadowlands racing schedule should he gets slots.
"Jeff keeps talking about less racing and fewer days," Luchento said . "The states that have more racing and the slots money are where all the breeding horses are, where all the stallions and mares are. We need to revive breeding in New Jersey and to do that you have to have a lot more dates than we have. Besides, it's our decision how many dates we race in New Jersey. We're not going to do anything crazy, but if that money is there we have to have more than 50 days."
Drazin and Luchento argue that another problem with Gural's planned split of the revenue is that it leaves nothing for the Atlantic City casino operators. While nobody in New Jersey racing is eager to help out Atlantic City, Luchento and Drazin are convinced that a casino will never come to the Meadowlands unless Atlantic City and its many supporters in Trenton come on board.
New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney is a huge supporter of Atlantic City and has the power to squash a Meadowlands casino project on his own.
"The casinos are going to say what about us?" Drazin said. "What do we get? If they're not getting a share they are happy with they will spend a ton of money to fight this. I've already heard from them that they don't like the Gural plan. They'll spend what they have to keep it from happening. They are going to say we have to be part of the process. We all have to be part of the process, the state, Gural, Monmouth, the horsemen."
Before Gural's arrival in New Jersey, Drazin, Luchento and others had put together a plan they thought would be palatable to all the major players. It called for a four-way split of the casino profits at the Meadowlands, with equal shares going to the horsemen, the state, Atlantic City and the racetrack operators. They believe their plan has a lot better chance of succeeding than Gural's.
How this plays out from here will be fascinating to watch.
Drazin and Luchento say Gural's plan won't work, but are they underestimating him? He is acting like this is a poker game and he's holding four aces. Has he built up so much capital in the state with Christie and others that he can pull off what would seem impossible, get a casino at the Meadowlands and do so without bowing down to Atlantic City?
And can he get something accomplished if the thoroughbreds and the horsemen fight his plan?
"I don't think Jeff is doing what he is doing out of greed," Luchento said. "I think there are some things he doesn't understand. I've never said no to Jeff even when I didn't necessarily think he was doing the right thing. But now we're pretty much settled in, and we're at the point where we're ready to draw some lines in the sand and say things can't happen this way."
