Firms battling for last racing license

David B. Caruso

Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2002 | 9:36 a.m.

PHILADELPHIA -- The possibility that Pennsylvania will legalize slot machines at horse tracks has touched off a scramble for the state's last remaining thoroughbred racing license, which had sat unused and unwanted for 20 years.

Lured by the prospect of a multimillion-dollar bonanza from slots, three companies have applied for permission to open what would likely become the state's sixth racetrack.

Horsemen's Park LLC, a group of horse owners backed by the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, became the latest to join the fray today.

The consortium said its initial application would be for a new $30 million track either in or near Philadelphia; but if gambling proposals pass, the project could be much larger.

"We're probably talking a $100 million project with a hotel and conference center, if slots are approved," said Salvatore DeBunda, an attorney, horse owner and spokesman for the group.

Other partners in the effort include Charles Murray, the retired chief executive of Actium Corp., and Harriette Owens-Waldron, a horse owner and co-president of Verispan in Horsham.

Competing with Horsemen's Park is a company controlled by one of the state's current racetrack operators, Philadelphia Park. The corporation, called the Seaport Park Racing Association, wants to build a track with a hotel, convention hall and IMAX movie theater along Interstate 95 in Delaware County, south of the city.

A third group, named in filings with the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission as 1935 Inc., has also applied. The commission refused to release details of the Pittsburgh group's application or identify its backers today.

Those applications are the first serious bids for the racing license since it was offered in 1981, staff at the commission said. Several groups have also filed applications to get the state's two unassigned harness-racing licenses.

The state has six licenses for thoroughbred horse racing; it would take a vote by the state Legislature to create a seventh.

The reason for the sudden interest: a growing sense that Pennsylvania is likely to legalize slot machine gambling at racetracks as a way of boosting sagging state revenue.

Gov.-elect Edward G. Rendell said he hoped to make slot machine revenue a major part of his plan to boost education spending and lower property taxes.

Slots would also be a gold mine for the tracks, which have struggled in recent years, said Tom Kauffman, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Association.

"We're talking about something that could create 17,000 jobs and recapture a piece of the $3 billion the Pennsylvania residents now spend on gambling in other states," he said.

One group has already positioned itself to cash in. The state this year approved a West Virginia company's proposal to build a $56 million track, Presque Isle Downs, near Erie.

The state now has four thoroughbred tracks, The Meadows in southwestern Pennsylvania, Pocono Downs near Wilkes-Barre, Penn National near Harrisburg and Philadelphia Park in Bucks County.