'Placeholder' Dates Approved in Massachusetts
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By Lynne Snierson
While maintaining it is doing whatever is necessary to keep the door open for the return of live Thoroughbred racing in the state, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission voted unanimously to approve three "placeholder" 2015 dates applications at a public hearing Nov. 6.
The commissioners gave the go-ahead to one application filed by the New England Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association for a one-day meet at the soon-to-be shuttered Suffolk Downs. It also gave the greeen light to two separate applications from the owners of the Brockton Fair for a one-day meet run by the Brockton Agricultural Society, as well as a single-day meet under the aegis of the Middleborough Agricultural Society.
The next step is for the applicants to return to the commission with completed and detailed applications.
Under state law, a meet at Suffolk Downs, which is a one-mile track with a seven-furlong turf course and chute, must be a minimum of 65 days. But the fair meets at Brockton, which has a half-mile dirt track and no grass course, need only be a minimum of 15 days each.
Commissioner Gayle Cameron, who has taken the lead on racing-related matters, stated she recently toured the Brockton Fairgrounds, which has been idle since its last meet in 2001, and was pleasantly surprised by the good condition of the track and the rest of the facility.
New England HBPA officials remain hopeful they will be able to strike an economically viable deal to lease Suffolk Downs from the ownership group, which did not apply for 2015 dates after its gaming partner, Mohegan Sun, was bypassed by the MGC in favor of Wynn Resorts for the single Boston-area casino license Sept. 16.
Suffolk Downs, which concluded its 65-day meet Oct. 4, has the rights to continue full-card simulcasts through Dec. 31. The owners said they would shut down operations completely by the end of the year.
New England HBPA, if successful in a deal with the track, must run the required minimum 65 days in order to benefit from simulcasts, and the fair meets would have to run their minimum amount of dates in order for the same.
In related news, since the statewide referendum to repeal the 2011 expanded gaming legislation failed at the ballot box Nov. 4, the MGC formally awarded casino licenses to Wynn Resorts and to MGM, which earlier won the casino license for the state's western region, at the hearing. Wynn and MGM must now each pay the mandatory license fee of $85 million and 5% of the $170 million total is dedicated to the new Race Horse Development Fund.