Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, in a speech unveiling the new state budget, said the budget will divert 80 percent of the subsidies casino pay to prop up the state’s horse-racing industry—some $200 million annually—to a new college scholarship program.
Under the state’s gaming law, a portion of casino revenues are meant to support the state’s racetracks, horsemen and breeders. The subsidies are distributed by the state’s Race Horse Development Fund, which was created when casinos at licensed racetracks were legalized in 2004. It was converted into a trust by the legislature in 2017 as part of a gambling expansion bill.
Wolf said that the diversion of the funds would create a scholarship program allowing 25,000 children to go to state colleges.
“Let’s bet on our kids instead of bankrolling racehorse owners and ensure the viability of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education,” Wolf said in an address to both chambers of the legislature.
Pete Peterson, the executive director of the Pennsylvania Equine Coalition, a lobbying group that represents constituents in the racing and breeding industries, told the DRF.com news site that approval of the budget appropriation would “destroy an industry that provides a $1.6 billion economic impact” in the state.
“If approved by the legislature, this raid would result in the end of horse racing in Pennsylvania by eviscerating the primary funding source for the purses and breeder incentives that serve as the lifeblood of the industry,” Peterson said.
Peterson also said that the diversion of the funds would be illegal considering the language contained in the 2017 gambling bill that converted the development fund into a trust.
The Pennsylvania Equine Coalition issued a statement objecting to the budget proposal, quoting a number of individuals in both the Thoroughbred and harness industries as saying that the diversion of the funds would lead to devastation.
“If this passes I will be putting a for-sale sign on my house right away,” said John Servis, who trained Smarty Jones, the Pennsylvania-bred horse that won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in 2004.
