Pennsylvania and Maryland can both prosper —with slots
The city of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., credits itself with 24 “firsts,” noted on its Web site. The “birthplace of HBO,” as well as “the place where anthracite coal was first burned,” Greater Wilkes-Barre, a former coal mining town in the mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania, can add a 25th item to its list.

That is the arrival of slots at nearby Pocono Downs race track.
Pocono Downs, a Standardbred facility that the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority purchased a year ago from Penn National Gaming Inc. for $280 million, made history on November 14, 2006, when it became the first of a prospective 14 slots locations to begin operation in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

A down-home kind of place, offering some machines that cost only a penny to play and featuring little of the glitz that was expected to accompany the opening of Philadelphia Park’s slots emporium on December 19, Pocono Downs underscored the mammoth potential of Pennsylvania’s overall slots program by doing more than $85 million in slots business during its first half-month of operation.

Those coins are already trickling down into the coffers of the state’s Thoroughbred racing and breeding industry.

The week before its slots floors were scheduled to greet their first stampede of customers, Philadelphia Park announced a 40 percent purse increase to take effect with the first condition book of 2007. That translates into maiden special weight races worth $28,000 (up from $20,000) and open allowance races with purses of $30,000 (where the previous purse value was $25,000). Bottom-level maiden claiming races are now worth $10,000 (instead of $8,000).

Increased opportunities and rewards for Pennsylvania-breds are becoming a reality, with Philadelphia Park beginning to card maiden special weights, as well as first and second-level allowance races, restricted to PA-breds. In addition—registered Pennsylvania-breds will earn a bonus amounting to a whopping 40 percent of the purse share while finishing first, second or third in any race at Philadelphia Park.

Do Maryland horsepeople find this situation alarming? You bet. But hope is not lost. The Maryland General Assembly convenes this month for its usual 90-day session that ends in April. Perhaps the giant emerging from the north will convince Maryland’s state leaders that the need for slots to bolster our horse industry is real, and it is urgent.

Meanwhile, Marylanders should not begrudge Pennsylvania horsemen their opportunity to prosper from slots revenue. With the right opportunity, Maryland’s Thoroughbred racing and breeding industry can—and will—rise to tantalizing levels of its own.