New York studies the impact of VLT on racing, livestock
The New York State Gaming Commission is proposing to conduct the state’s first major review of its nearly 20-year-old video lottery terminal betting program to determine the financial and economic impact on the industry. horse racing and breeding.
The plan is among tens of thousands of line item allocations presented to state legislators by Governor Kathy Hochul this week in his $227 billion 2023-2024 state budget proposal. Miss.
Today, there are nearly 17,000 VLT devices—which look like slot machines and are operated off-site of the state’s Central Lottery Division—at 10 locations, including Aqueduct race track and Finger Lakes Racecourseas well as six harness lines.
Over the years, there have been industry-sponsored reviews or studies by game consulting firms regarding projections of the financial impact of the VLT program on racetracks and livestock funds, with Many industry executives claim that VLT revenue is a lifeline for most racetracks, the racehorse sector, and the state budget. What officials predicted a generation ago was not fully realized: that VLT salons would spur major economic development in the state’s struggling suburbs.
Officials purse the proposed study, which will take place sometime next year if the Legislature, as expected, approves the idea of a one-time spending, to review federal government behavior. concerned with whether state-provided economic development incentives actually create the number and type of jobs. and other activities as envisioned by public expenditures.
Games Commission officials say using an academic institution instead of outside consultants paid for by the private party would help a neutral party study VLT’s impact on the sector racing and breeding. The agency will not select a university or college or some such academic institution to conduct research until lawmakers approve the proposal. The total state budget is due on March 31.
The Hochul Budget, as BloodHorse reported earlier this week, has a major racing industry-related claim to the Legislature in 2023: the power to lend the state $455 million on behalf of the Racing Association. New York car to finance the total reconstruction Belmont Park, which, when completed, will result in the closure of the Aqueduct, the termination of the NYRA’s lease on that property — state-owned, as is Belmont — and lead to certain types of future uses Unknown. (NYRA, under Hochul’s plan, would fund a rare state loan program for a private institution.)
The Hochul Budget also rejects the state’s long-standing mobile sportsbook operators’ plan to reduce the state’s 51 percent tax on total gaming revenue. Executives this week said the program’s growth is unsustainable at the record-setting levels seen over the past year; but the Hochul budget revenue outlook documents state that mobile sports betting tax revenue is “anticipated to increase slightly as growth is expected as the market matures.” The state took in more than $900 million in revenue from mobile sportsbook operators in the program’s first year, which began in early January 2022. The budget notes that the state’s tax revenue The state’s relatively small interactive virtual sports industry will decline slightly in the state’s current five fiscal years, ending March 31, “due to the negative impact of mobile sports betting.” move.”
The budget also calls for continuing to set aside $100,000 in state funds for the Racing Fan Advisory Council, which is part of the game committee’s budget. The financial plan also continues, unchanged, at current parity tax rates and simulated terms for another year.