Valley suitors ready for the gate

By CHRIS COTOLESE

TheNewsOutlet.org

A light rain falls on the racetrack at Mountaineer Casino, and horses and jockeys cut through the thick, wet air of the West Virginia panhandle.

Limpopo takes an early lead around the turn. She’s more than two lengths ahead by the homestretch.

Strike Up a Ruckus takes to the outside in fourth place. Her muscles flex and relax in ever-quickening cycles, kicking up wet earth. A middle-aged woman in sweatpants drags deeply on a cigarette and whispers, “Come on, Ruckus.”

But Limpopo is too far ahead. This race is hers. But for the woman, there will be other races.

Every week, she and hundreds of others come to the racetrack in Newell, W.Va. At least two companies are trying to bring that same draw to the Mahoning Valley.

One company is hoping to build a racetrack in Austintown, and the other wants to locate in Vienna.

But like people who place bets at racetracks, the cities that host these facilities aren’t guaranteed a win. There are many hurdles to overcome, including a change in state law, before either racetrack would materialize.

And like Limpopo — only one company will win.

Tom Fries, executive director of the Ohio Racing Commission, said the organization is going to take its time with the application process.

“We’ll take all sorts of variables into consideration. Obviously, economic impact would be one of them — their commitment to horse racing in Ohio.”

Two Ohio communities that house racetracks, according to their officials, said that the payoff from racetracks may not be much.

Beulah Park, built in 1923, is Ohio’s first racetrack. At the height of its popularity, it wasn’t uncommon for 5,000 to 8,000 people to visit its 210 acres each racing day and stay in one of Grove City’s 1,300 hotel rooms.

It was a staple of the local economy. But in recent years, interest in horse racing has seen a marked decline.

Chuck Boso, development director for Grove City, believes that the Beulah Park land is being “underutilized.”

He said Beulah Park employs about 100 people, most of whom are part time. The track hosts two meets, once in the fall and again beginning in the winter. Grove City receives up to $15,000 in taxes on the betting pool for each meet.

“One could argue that there could be better use of the grounds and increased potential revenue to the city,” he said.

Thistledown, in North Randall just southeast of Cleveland, has experienced the same.

Chuck Horvath, building commissioner for North Randall, said that at its peak, the track employed around 800 people.

That number is now about 250 during the live season and about 100 otherwise, according to its reports.

The foot traffic generated by the track used to overflow to the Randall Park Mall across from Thistledown. But the mall has been closed for three years.

“Our community is mostly a retail-driven community, and a lot of them have left,” he said.

Austintown Administrator Michael Dockry is more optimistic about the economic benefit of horse racing in his community.

He welcomes plans by Penn National Gaming Inc., owners of Beulah Park, to build a racetrack where Interstate 80 meets state Route 46.

Penn National said the project would create an estimated 1,500 direct and indirect jobs to operate and maintain the facility.

Bob Tenenbaum, spokesman for Penn, said the construction jobs had not been estimated but offered a comparison.

“This is a $200 million facility. The casino that’s under construction in Columbus is a $350 million facility, and it’s going to have 3,500 construction workers. So we’re talking about a significant number of construction jobs,” he said.

There also is a potential increase in commercial traffic that could persuade businesses to develop around the racetrack.

“There is vacant space, virgin land, if you will, on state Route 46 that I think would see a boost in value,” Dockry said.

Austintown will receive up to $15,000 for each horse-racing meet, and Dockry noted a one-time purchase of a zoning permit at a cost between $150,000-$200,000.

But, he said the real gain would be “just a general economic impact.”

“More people looking to own homes probably both in Austintown and the surrounding area ... more people working, spending money not only on homes but on groceries and food. All the area businesses ought to find some benefit,” he said.

But Austintown isn’t ready for a victory lap just yet. Developers will have to hurdle state law.

PNG wants to relocate its operations in Beulah Park to Dayton and Raceway Park in Toledo to Austintown. Tenenbaum said these proposals depend on whether the Ohio Racing Commission approves the moves, and whether the state allows slot machines, officially called video lottery terminals, beyond the casinos and into the racetracks.

PNG owns the rights to build two of Ohio’s four new casinos in Columbus and Toledo. Racetracks so near their casinos could hurt PNG’s business model.

Alternatively, Tenenbaum said allowing VLTs at racetracks and widening the radius between gaming facilities would increase income to the tracks, tax revenue by $200 million, and horse-racing purses by $5 million to $6 million.

The total tax revenue paid by all seven of Ohio’s racetracks to the state in 2009 was less than $9.5 million, down from more than $14 million in 2005.

While PNG plans only to build if VLTs are legalized, another company wants to go forward even without the machines.

About 20 miles, or 160 furlongs, northeast of Austintown is Vienna, where the Mahoning Valley Development Group plans to build a horsetrack and resort.

Mahoning Valley Development Group Chairman Rick Lertzman has been lobbying to legalize gambling for more than 20 years with My Ohio Now. In 2008, the group wrote a ballot measure that would have brought a casino to southwestern Ohio.

He believes MVDG has a competitive edge over PNG.

“We’re building a resort facility too. So we’re looking at having a major structure to have kind of an all-year-round resort.”

He estimated the annual revenue at around $250 million for gambling if the VLTs are allowed, and $120 million for the resort, which would include an indoor water park.

Lertzman said the economic benefits would reach beyond the gaming facility.

“It’s kind of a ripple effect when you create an industry like this. ... Besides the 1,500 jobs, another 1,000 jobs will be created by the ancillary industries that service the facility.”

But only one project will make it to the finish line. Ohio law requires at least 50 miles between racetracks.

“If Penn National applies, they will get permission to relocate the license from Toledo to the Valley,” Tenebaum said.

The NewsOutlet is a joint media venture by student and professional journalists and is a collaboration of Youngstown State University, WYSU radio and The Vindicator.