Racetrack proposal for Valley at the gate

For Penn National, move hinges on slot machines

By David Skolnick

skolnick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The owners of a Toledo horse racetrack were to present plans today to relocate its operations to Austintown as long as the state legalizes slot machines at the facility.

Penn National Gaming Inc., which owns Raceway Park in Toledo, will discuss the move with the Ohio State Racing Commission at the agency’s 10 a.m. meeting in Columbus.

Officials with the company were to be at the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber’s downtown Youngstown office on Central Federal Street at 3 p.m. with various local elected officials to announce the proposed move of the harness racetrack, said state Rep. Ronald V. Gerberry of Austintown, D-59th, and state Sen. Joe Schiavoni of Canfield, D-33rd. Both of them plan to attend the chamber announcement.

Penn National sent an e-mail Wednesday to the local media saying it would “announce a major potential economic development project for the Mahoning Valley” at today’s press conference.

Bob Tenenbaum, Penn National spokesman, declined to elaborate.

But local elected officials, including Gerberry, Schiavoni and state Rep. Robert F. Hagan of Youngstown, D-60th, have told The Vindicator that the company plans to move Raceway Park to the vacant 186-acre Centerpointe business park in Austintown, off state Route 46, just south of Interstate 80, as long as the state permits slot machines at the track.

Penn National plans to invest $200 million to $250 million for this racetrack with about 1,000 to 1,500 jobs created, Schiavoni and Hagan said.

Also, the Dayton Daily News reported Penn National will relocate its Beulah Park thoroughbred facility from Grove City, near Columbus, to a former Delphi Corp. automotive plant in North Dayton if the state allows slot machines at the track. The company plans to invest $200 million into that facility, the newspaper reports.

Penn National officials were to be in Dayton at 3 p.m. today to discuss that proposal, the newspaper reports.

Gov. John Kasich is considering a plan to have slot machines at the state’s seven racetracks but isn’t ready to make a decision.

Penn National is building Las Vegas-style casinos near the two facilities and is looking to relocate the tracks, Tenenbaum has said.

There is “absolutely no way a decision will be made” today by the racing commission about relocating either track, said Tom Fries Jr., its executive director. “It will be purely an informal talk. It’s the first step in a long journey. No votes will be taken. That’s one thing I’m sure about.”

Penn National needs to apply to the commission to transfer the licenses.

The company also needs to obtain signatures from at least 51 percent of the total number of voters in the last general election from the township in which the racetracks would be located, Fries said.

That would be 6,923 signatures from Austintown adults for the local track.

Mahoning County commissioners need to approve the move.

Also, the racing commission will meet next Wednesday with officials from the Mahoning Valley Development Group, a separate company also looking to bring horse racing to the Mahoning Valley.

That company is proposing a $300 million complex on as much as 700 acres that would include a thoroughbred racetrack, resort and possibly a casino with slot machines.

“They’ll come in and talk,” Fries said of the company. “It will be informative.”

Rick Lertzman, the group’s chairman, said he isn’t pleased that Penn National wants to leave Toledo and Grove City.

If Penn National wants to go, Lertzman said his company would be interested in obtaining gaming licenses and open tracks in those two areas.

“Our preference is to create a track in the Mahoning Valley, but this opens up a myriad of possibilities,” he said. “We feel strong about being in the Mahoning Valley.”

But if Penn National is abandoning its two current locations, Lertzman said his company could end up in those areas rather than the Valley.

The Mahoning Valley Development Group will have a lawyer at today’s racing commission meeting objecting to Penn National’s proposed relocations, Lertzman said.