Legislation Targets VLT Funding to NY Racing Industry

According to a press release from New Yorkers for Clean, Livable, and Safe Streets, two New York lawmakers, New York State Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal and State Senator Zellnor Myrie, plan to introduce legislation to eliminate funding from Video Lottery Terminal gaming toward the state's horse racing industry.

The legislation, backed by anti-racing groups and social services nonprofits, had not been filed by midafternoon Nov. 17. Its backers say the funding is in place despite a lack of meaningful return to New York, a claim the racing industry disputes. According to the release, the bill will look to redirect what it says are $230 million in annual subsidies toward funding public schools, agricultural grants, human services, and workforce protections.

VLT terminals are similar to slot machines.

"It's time we put an end to multimillion-dollar taxpayer-funded subsidies that prop up a dying industry," Rosenthal, also the chair of the Committee on Social Services, said in a release.

Both Rosenthal and Myrie are Democrats, with Rosenthal representing Manhattan and Myrie Brooklyn.

The New York Racing Association, which operates Belmont Park, Aqueduct Racetrack, and Saratoga Race Course in New York, will "vigorously oppose this legislation," Pat McKenna, NYRA's senior director of communications, said in a statement.

"Racing support payments are not subsidies," he added. "The payments from VLT revenues are made to the Thoroughbred industry in part because NYRA transferred land and other intellectual property to the state in 2008 and has acted as the steward of the properties in the years since. The VLT payments are compensation for that transaction rather than subsidies. These payments further the sport's ability to serve as an economic engine—particularly in support of the tourism and hospitality industries, which have suffered significantly due to the COVID crisis.  

"NYRA looks forward to the opportunity to engage New Yorkers and lawmakers in a real conversation about the massive industry connected to horse racing throughout the state. This is precisely why NYRA joined We Are NY Horse Racing, the diverse coalition launched in September in support of horse racing.

"Organizations like NYClass, PETA, and Horseracing Wrongs (backers of the legislation) have long been philosophically opposed to horse racing and make no secret of their desire to end the sport. This extreme agenda would deprive working families of jobs and opportunity and would negatively impact union and hourly workers at the worst possible time. Rather than a rational public policy disagreement, these groups are only interested in how best to damage horse racing to further their own political agenda. These groups are completely out of touch with the concerns of working families here in New York, and they cannot be trusted."

New York lawmakers are unlikely to take action on legislation until they return for the next session in January.

The Albany Times Union reported that a bill that would have redistributed VLT revenues from the horse racing industry toward the Metropolitan Transportation Authority did not pass in 2020.