Finger Lakes Horsemen Call for Support

After months of saying Finger Lakes Gaming & Racetrack is at risk of closure, the organization representing horsemen at the upstate New York track have begun a statewide ad campaign in a bid to convince state officials to ease the coming blow expected from a large, nearby commercial casino now under construction.



The Finger Lakes Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association is running ads on television and radio stations, as well as online, to bring attention to its push to protect purse levels against the new competition expected to begin in January when del Lago Resort & Casino opens early next year just 29 miles from the track.



The new casino will offer slot machines and table games such as poker, and is expected, the horsemen’s group says, to cannibalize at least 40% of the current video lottery terminal business at Finger Lakes. The VLT devices share a portion of proceeds for purses and breeder awards.



Finger Lakes is just outside of a geographic “hold harmless” zone devised by state officials in 2013 when the commercial casino expansion was approved; the horsemen want the track to be placed within that zone to protect purse levels when the new gambling competition arrives.



In this year’s state budget, track owners won an arrangement that drops the tax rate the company pays on its VLT revenues from 69% to 59%. The horsemen’s group says it was left out of the deal and that falling purses will lead to the end of racing at the track located south of Rochester.



“The new Lago casino is supposed to help revive the upstate economy, not put 1,200 hard working men and women out of work,’’ David Brown, president of the horsemen’s group, said in a written statement. The group wants the state to step in and ensure purses are protected.



Industry executives say the situation puts at risk not just the track’s horsemen, but breeders across the state. About 70% of starts at the track in 2015 were New York-breds.



"The health of Finger Lakes Racetrack is critically important to Thoroughbred breeders. Any reduction in purse money due to the competing casino will create a ripple into the economy and employment base of the Thoroughbred industry, not just in Ontario County, but throughout the state where 250 other farms occupying one-million acres of equine property and employing more than 33,000 people exist," said Jeffrey Cannizzo, executive director of New York Thoroughbred Breeders in a written statement.

"The situation is disingenuous; and very much David vs. Goliath. Two enormous casino corporations whose own bottom lines are protected will be putting thousands of New York state residents' and families' lives on the line while crushing agribusiness in the state.”