I'll keep this short, as I know most of you don't share the same passion for getting Kentucky to stop giving money away to its bordering states as do I. However, this study basically lays out that by enacting gambling (or VLTs or whatever) the thoroughbred industry would gain 152.5 million dollars annually through purse enhancement. If you follow a proportional disbursement of this money in accordance with the receipts of the gambling terminals as estimated by the study, Churchill adds $33.5 million to its yearly purses, Keeneland adds $22.7 million, Ellis Park adds $8.4 million, Turfway adds $10.5 million, and Kentucky Downs adds $48.8 million.
I think they overestimated Kentucky Downs' draw, but I'm assuming it is based off of the fact that it is between Bowling Green and Nashville and is expected to draw well due to its proximity to two cities. Additionally, Kentucky Downs only has 4 days of racing a year, so I'm not sure what they really expect out of it.
To put all of this in perspective, Churchill currently has approximately $28.7 million of purses in a 61 day meet and Keeneland has $18.2 million of purses in a 32 day meet (figures are from DRF and are as of 2010). You're talking about more than doubling these two meets' total purses (62.2 mil for CD and 40.9 mil for KEE), which I'm sure would come with a legislative mandate to increase racing days. If Keeneland and Churchill only increased their racing days by half, they would immediately be #1 and #2 in the daily purses, just ahead of Monmouth. It even vaults both tracks into the top 6 of total purses with the order being Woodbine (89 mil), CD (62 mil), Parx (60 mil), Monmouth (46 mil), Belmont (42 mil), and Keeneland (40 mil). Now, the 2010 dollars of yearly purses are mixed with 2015 projected dollars for KY gambling revenues, so there is a margin of error, but I'd bet that it's really close. And who really knows how the gambling commission in KY will divy out the dollars. Maybe the two premier tracks get a bit more, maybe Turfway and Ellis get a big boost, it's an unknown, and I'm not counting chickens until they hatch.
Loading comments...