from the USTA Communications Department
Columbus, OH — New Jersey’s Thoroughbred horsemen want a bigger slice of the state’s simulcast pie, which could be the latest roadblock in Jeff Gural’s attempt to take over Meadowlands Racetrack.
According to a story in the New York Daily News, the New Jersey Thoroughbred industry currently gets 65 percent of all simulcast revenue on wagers made at the state’s tracks, over the phone and on the Internet, except on wagers placed at the Meadowlands. At the Meadowlands, harness racing gets all of the revenue for two-thirds of every calendar year with Thoroughbreds getting the remaining third.
“What (the Thoroughbred industry) wants is all revenue made on wagers placed on Thoroughbred races while we would get the revenue bet on harness races,” Gural told the Daily News. “That would be their first choice. Their compromise position would be to take a 65-35 split. Our position is that we are not going to change the law because there are twice as many Standardbreds in the state of New Jersey, so the harness industry has twice as much financial impact.”
To read the full story, click here.
- Gural hopes to resolve Big M issues on Friday (Thursday, April 28, 2011)
Jeff Gural has a meeting with the State on Friday at 9 a.m. to hopefully resolve the issue with the Thoroughbred horsemen as well as two or three other issues.