The owners of a US-based racetrack have thrown their toys out of the pram after having their growth stunted by “illegal Internet wagering on horse races.”
Canterbury Park Holding Group, who run the racetrack of the same name in the US state of Minnesota, lost around $1million in 2010 and are putting the blame at the door of the internet gambling industry.
CEO Randy Sampson told the Minneapolis/St Paul Business Journal, “The increase in card casino revenues was, however, offset by the decline in revenues from horse racing due to poor economic conditions and the continuing growth in illegal Internet wagering on horse races by Minnesota residents.”
What Mr Sampson failed to mention was the small matter of a charge to upgrade a card casino, something that could easily have affected the company’s finances. The cost of remodeling the card casino…$910,000.
It’s also hard to work out why the venue’s horse racing wagering part of the business suffered but the card playing side of the business was ok.
Surely, if Minnesota residents know how to gamble on horses over the Internet then they are fairly likely to be able to work out how to do the same with online poker. Unless that’s a complete mental block that all Minnesotans have and in that case we apologise Mr Sampson. Sir.
The track is still holding out hope that controversial plans to allow two racinos in the state are accepted and there’s even a link to the “RacinoNOW” webpage on the track’s site for something that would boost the company’s chances considerably.
