First Turn - 9/17

FIRST

TURN

SEPTEMBER

17

Fewer choices

by James Scully

The MidAtlantic Cooperative, which consists of 19 tracks and

their off-track facilities and account wagering services,

announced Tuesday that it will no longer offer simulcasts from

Belmont Park. It has nothing to do with signal rates. The dispute

centers upon in-home wagering.

As a result, bettors in Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey,

Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia are now being denied

access to wagering on Belmont.

Martin Lieberman, the executive director of the MidAtlantic

Cooperative, said NYRA would permit limited account wagering in

Pennsylvania and New Jersey, but it had conveyed those rights to

TVG in the other states.

"This is not an economic dispute," Lieberman said.

"We want all of our members to be able to offer their fans

account wagering on the New York races in the Mid-Atlantic region.

NYRA, through its deal with TVG, has acted to limit wagering

opportunities."

He explained that TVG has no presence or authority to take

bets in some of the states.

That leaves a major impasse in a market that contributes more

than 20 percent of the national handle.

The old saying holds "Money makes the mare go" and

money is the root of the problem. More than $15 billion was

wagered in the United States last year on Thoroughbred racing.

That's a lot of money, and most of it is simulcasting. Tracks,

and even account-wagering services like TVG in their relationship

with NYRA, are starting to step forth to claim what they feel is

their fair share, and it's getting to be that nobody can work

together.

Magna made a move to restrict the marketplace last year. They

have no interest in joining hands with Churchill or anybody else

and decided that they had to control every dollar wagered in-home

on their product through their own account-wagering service.

Exclusivity has resulted in lower handles at Gulfstream, Santa

Anita and other Magna-owned tracks.

Now many racing fans in the Mid-Atlantic region can't get a

bet down on Belmont. It's going to hurt the total handle for

Belmont's Fall Meet and impact the numbers for Aqueduct and

Saratoga.

The sport continues to alienate the people who drive the

industry.

Will it get more difficult for racing fans to place a bet from

home? It unfortunately looks that way. You may eventually need

five different accounts to play Saratoga, Del Mar, Santa Anita,

Churchill and Monmouth Park by phone or computer.

Why bother? The industry is dependent upon wagering dollars,

but they just don't care about those doing the betting.