Soccer Dad

Betting the farms

Gov Ehrlich of Maryland has made slots a centerpiece of his political program. His thought is that with slots in major race tracks in the state, the tracks will be able to raise the purses for races and thus revive the racing industry. In turn he argues this will save the horse industry in the state.

The two Democratic leaning newspapers in the state, the Washington Post and the Baltimore Sun - both of which oppose slots - disagree. I noted in June that the Washington Post had weighed in with an article on the growing popularity of horse riding in the state. The unstated point of the article was that the horse industry would survive, whether or not the racing industry did. I questioned that premise at the time. If racing left the state, wouldn't the money for raising horses for pleasure riding leave it also?

Now the Baltimore Sun has weighed in on the subject, with Trails, not tracks, are what’s hot in Maryland and I believe that it confirms my suspicion:

According to the 2002 Maryland Equine Census, 52,300 equines -- 60 percent of the total 87,100 equines in the state -- were not associated with the racing industry.

That might be but that also means that 40 percent were associated with the racing industry. People who would become breeders and trainers might be needed for regular riders, but the big money comes from racing. Many of those people in the horse raising industry probably consider the possibility of moving into the racing industry.

Additionally the companies providing resources necessary for raising horses are probably drawn to Maryland because of the racing. If the racing goes, those companies would possibly consider moving to states with racing which would be more lucrative markets making it a bit more difficult for horse farms not associated with racing.

Minor league baseball is fun and lucrative. But not on the level of the majors. If someone argued that it would help minor league baseball to get rid of the majors they'd be wrong. Without the money (and glamour) of the bigs, interest in the farm teams would wane. Players willing to take low paying minor league jobs with a slim possibility of a payoff would be less likely to take those same jobs if that possibility disappeared.

A similar thing would almost certainly happen if racing left Maryland.

While I'm not enthusiastic about slots, I think that Gov. Ehrlich's argument that they'd help preserve the horse farms of Maryland (by saving racing) has merit and shouldn't be easily dismissed. Unless of course you're planning on supporting his opponent next year.

Posted by SoccerDad at October 12, 2005 5:57 AM