Cover Stories Winter 2002

Massachusetts Governor Approves $5 Million Bailout for State's Racetracks

Boston: Acting Gov. Jane Swift signed legislation Nov. 17 giving the state's struggling dog and horse tracks an annual $5 million tax break. The bill allows the tracks to keep $5 million in pari-mutuel taxes and unclaimed winnings that had previously been paid to the state. The money reportedly will be used to boost purse money for dog and horse owners.

Other approved measures included in the racing bill will: extend and expand simulcasting rights and define how profits will be split; require trainers to keep detailed records of every greyhound that races in the state, including transportation records; require the state racing commission to keep detailed injury records of racing dogs and make those records available to the public; legalize telephone account wagering; create a special panel to study limits on dog racing on days of extreme heat or cold; and create the greyhound adoption trust fund.

Swift's approval of the bailout coincided with her proposal to cut the state budget by $600 million in order to close a $1.3 billion budget shortfall.

State officials defended the bill as a way to save jobs and bolster state revenue, and warned that the death of the four tracks - Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere, Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park in Taunton, the Suffolk Downs thoroughbred track on the Revere-East Boston line, and the Plainridge harness track in Plainville - could severely endanger the communities that host them.

Legislature Approves Deal
The House and Senate approved the controversial racing bill Nov. 7, nearly a year to the day that a ballot proposal to ban greyhound racing in Massachusetts lost by two percentage points. A measure to redirect an additional $3.5 million in state taxes into trust funds for both dog tracks was struck from the final version of the bill. The money would have been used for capital improvements and advertising.

Racetrack operators and legislators who supported the measure said passage of the bill would bolster an industry that directly employs 1,500 people and provides another 3,700 race-dependent jobs at horse barns and greyhound kennels.

"It's our best effort to keep the tracks afloat," said state Rep. Daniel Bosley, D-North Adams. "If we didn't allow for the industry-specific taxes to go back to the industry, the industry wouldn't survive," Bosley said.

Deal Sparks Criticism Passage of the bill without a roll call vote in the final days of the legislative session sparked criticism from legislators, government watchdog groups, and greyhound activists. "I don't think a $5 million tax cut for the racetracks at a time when we're cutting basic human services is appropriate," said state Rep. David Linsky. "The last thing we should be doing is propping up a dying industry."

State Rep. Ruth Balser described the measure as "corporate welfare," and said the state could put the $5 million to better use, including restoring money to give shelter to mentally ill homeless people. "It's pretty clear that this is a dying industry in Massachusetts," said Ken White, executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts. "It's being propped up in part because of the large contributions being spread around Beacon Hill," White said. "This sends a message that legislative action is available only to a very few well- connected groups."

George Pillsbury, executive director of the Massachusetts Money and Politics Project, said track owners and their lobbyists contributed $158,000 to lawmakers from 1997 to 2000. This amount includes $60,000 donated to campaign coffers by dog track owners George Carney and Charles Sarkis, making them the largest individual donors to state legislators' campaigns.

Greyhound activists contend the multimillion-dollar aid package is simply an unjustifiable subsidy to a questionable industry at a time when other state social service programs are being cut to close a budget deficit.

"With critical state programs being cut in areas such as health care and education, we cannot afford a multimillion-dollar tax subsidy to an industry that 49 percent of the voters elected to outlaw only a year ago," said GREY2K USA president Carey Theil.

GREY2K USA, a national greyhound advocacy and education group, actively lobbied the Legislature in support of the bill's pro-greyhound measures, raised awareness and opposition to the tax breaks through the local media, and lobbied successfully to defeat the $3.5 million in taxes to fund Raynham-Taunton's and Wonderland's capital improvements and advertising promotions. Within days of the bill's Nov. 7 passage in the Legislature, GREY2K USA raised $10,000 to buy a series of radio ads urging the governor to veto the racing industry's aid package. The ads ran for a week but failed to sway the governor.

Adoption Trust Fund
The bill also included a $400,000 adoption trust fund measure. Lawmakers revised the measure in conference committee and added a discriminatory provision that prohibits anti-racing adoption groups from receiving any funding.

"This trust fund also has a provision which excludes dogs that have not run in one hundred races from receiving financial assistance. If a greyhound breaks his leg in his first race, he is not eligible. If he breaks his leg in his ninety-ninth race, he is not eligible for assistance," Theil said.

"The Legislature refused to look at the big picture, that people aren't interested in dog racing anymore. Giving the dog tracks a multimillion-dollar tax cut isn't going to change that."

Sources: The Boston Globe: Nicole Usher, Christo- pher Rowland; The Boston Herald: Scott Van Voorhis, Ed Gray, Cosmo Macero Jr.; Worcester Telegram & Gazette: John McElhenny (Associated Press)