Delays have been placed on the arrival of video slots
to the Aqueduct race track in New York. The New York Racing Association claimed
the video slot machines would begin operating between Labor Day and Thanksgiving
of this year. Now the reported arrival of what many consider the financial
savior of the NYRA will not occur until 2007.
According to the NYRA President Charles Hayward, it
simply took longer then they originally hoped to gain the necessary approval of
state agencies and MGM Mirage, the vendor, for the video slot machines.
Perhaps to avoid breaking anymore promises, Hayward
declined issuing a new date for the installation for the video slot machines.
Hayward confirms that the NYRA will have the capital to continue running
thoroughbred races through 2006 thanks to a $30 million state bailout and better
than expected revenue from January and February.
Hayward did have good news. New York’s racing
oversight board just approved the MGM contract this past Tuesday. This means
construction on the $170 million Queens facility may begin very soon.
Aqueduct’s VLT parlor is expected to carry 4,500 video slot machines and gross
$400 million annually for the state.
Since 1955, the NYRA has run thoroughbred racing in the New York state. It
points the finger at off-track betting and other forms in gambling for it severe
loss in business. The New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association recently endorsed the Empire Racing Association. The NYTH is a group of horse owners that have openly challenged the NYRA franchise in its time of struggle.
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