Slots
for Nags
Reported by Brad
Penner, STATEWIDE Correspondent
[Jana McGuire:] In 1935 Nebraska voters approved pari-mutuel horse racing. For
50 years the racing industry grew. The crowds got bigger and so did the bets. But since 1985 racing has been in decline. Some say it won't
survive the winter without a lot of help. Brad Penner took a look at the changes
facing the business. Brad?
Jana, the horse racing industry has been looking for answers
for years. Tax breaks helped for awhile. Then they turned to simulcasting. Now
the five race tracks want to take another step. They're asking the legislature
to allow more kinds of gambling at the tracks. They say horse racing has dropped
back in the pack in the race for the gambling dollar, and if things don't change,
this might be racing's last stretch run.
[Track Announcer:]
"The horses have reached the starting gate..."
It's the last day of the 1995 racing season at Ak-Sar-Ben.
(For a look at the political power of the Knights of AkSarBen, click
here.) It might be the last day the horses ever run here. Horsemen like
Herb Riecken know it.
[Riecken:] "Well, I try not to think about it. I realize
there's some talk in that order. Ak-Sar-Ben's been here a long time and we all
hope that it stays and that someone will come along and help them."
Fans know it, too.
[Jim McBreen:] "I'd really hate to see the horse races
go. It's great entertainment, I think. And from the attendance level that I've
seen this year, it's possible because it was down. It was down quite a bit this
year.
McBreen knows firsthand why fewer people are going to the
races. They're playing slot machines across the river in Iowa.
[Ak-Sar-Ben Manager:] "It's probably actually taken a lot of my business
away from Ak-sar-ben and taken me over there because there's just -- there's
a lot more going on."
The manager of Ak-Sar-Ben says they need to offer more to
bring people back. And that translates into our ability to offer some kind of
expanded gaming, particularly slot machines. One-armed bandits are blamed for
mugging the racing industry, but if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. The theory
is that slots will pump up cash flow at the tracks and save racing.
Dr. Loretta Fairchild is an economics professor at Nebraska
Wesleyan, and she's skeptical about using one form of gambling to bail out another.
[Dr. Loretta Fairchild:] "I think that they're being
sold a bill of goods by the gaming industry. I think bringing in slots is gonna
kill off horse racing in Nebraska faster than anything else you could possibly
do."
But if horse racing's already on the way out, what is there
to lose? Many in the business see slots as their only hope to bring back the
glory days.
[Ak-Sar-Ben Promotional
Film:] "Ak-Sar-Ben horse racing has been described as the finest between
Chicago and the Pacific coast. It fills the 10,000 car parking lot to overflowing
just about every racing day..."
[Ak-Sar-Ben Manager:] "I remember coming out on the last
day of racing, you wouldn't be able to be here. It'd be to crowded to be standing
here like this on the apron, and the stands would be full. So it's been -- it
is sad to see the number go down."
Ten years ago Ak-sar-ben had a record year. Attendance averaged
more than 15,000 a day. This year's average was just 3,500, the worst since
pari-mutuel racing began in 1935.
[Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie:] "Usually we're down in the paddock
watching them being saddled and then we watch them come out. We have friends
who own a horse and we follow them. It's just fun to get to know the horses."
You might think the McKenzies would be all for anything that
might keep the horses running, but they're not.
[Mr. McKenzie:] "We're not gamblers so the answer to
that one is -- from non-gamblers -- no."
[Mrs. McKenzie:] "Hate to think of 'em bringing in slot
machines."
"We like the racing. Continue with racing as opposed
to being a gambling emporium."
Herb Rieckens made his living in the racing business for 30 years.
[Rieckens:] "This is the main hub of my racing right
here at Ak-Sar-Ben, you know. This is where we get ready to come to and race.
To me Ak-Sar-Ben is the hub of all Nebraska racing so I sure hope it ain't the
last day, but things ain't looking all that good."
People like Herb Riecken might be hurt the most if racing
goes under. He's an owner, trainer, and breeder of race horses. He's also an
employer.
[Herb Rieckens on his farm:] "Down here now maybe in the morning there's
10, 11 people working for me. It varies with the amount of horses we got in.
It's seven days a week and everybody's here. When you have this many horses
-- like there's 70-some horses around here -- and you start worming them all
-- six or seven bucks a crack -- and then vaccinating, don't take long to run
up a couple thousand bucks real quick."
The costs add up. So to save money, Riecken and his two hired
hands do just about everything that needs to be done.
"Whenever you give any kind of vaccination, you have
a chance of them swelling up or getting sore."
Riecken says the end of Ak-Sar-Ben might not put him out of business, but it
would cut the business he does here. He'd raise fewer horses and buy fewer supplies,
and he'd do his racing in another state.
"Let's say we loaded up 20 horses and went to Iowa to
race. All the money we're going to spend all summer long's gonna be over there.
You know, we're gonna buy our feed over there. We're not gonna haul it. We're
gonna hire the people that live over there to work for us. We're gonna have
their gallop boys. Yeah, it would take a lot out of here. I really think it
would. A lot more than people think."
In 1991 the State Racing Commission studied racing's economic
impact on Nebraska. Using figures from 1990, they found a direct impact of close
to $80 million. They estimated that each of those dollars generated $3 for Nebraska's
economy meaning a total impact of nearly $250 million, but today that number
would be smaller. For one thing fewer people work in the business. Between 1990
and 1994 the number of licensed horsemen dropped by close to 1,000. That's nearly
50%. If Ak-Sar-Ben closes and other tracks follow, you can bet more horsemen
will be out of work. It's something Ron Westermann doesn't want to think about.
[Westermann:] "I've built houses, I've worked on hog
farms, I've done welding, and this is probably the most enjoyable job I've ever
had. You can go outside every day and ride horses, you know. And if you like
your job, enjoy getting up in the morning, enjoy going to work, what more could
you really ask for."
For the people who work the horses, the issue isn't about
gambling. It's about surviving to ride another day. Herb Riecken believes that
off-track betting would work if it's ever given a chance.
[Riecken:] "Right now you can only bet on horse racing
five places. You can play keno probably a thousand places. I don't know. You
can walk in and play keno anywhere or buy lottery tickets or whatever you want
to buy, but you can't do that with horse races. That's what's so unfair to us
right now. At the time we were the only gambling in the state. They were protecting
it so to speak. You had to go to these enclosed structures to gamble. But now
all the other gambling is everywhere, but not us. We're still in those five
little dinky spots we got to stay in and there's 2/3 of the state that never
gets to see any horse racing or bet on it. That's what's not fair. I think we
can compete with them if we have the same opportunity."
But off track betting can't be voted on until November of
1996 and that could be too little, too late. So horsemen are reluctantly going
along with efforts to legalize slot machines at the tracks.
Horsemen particularly don't want to expand gaming any further,
because it clearly is competitive to their own product, but I think at this
point we have no other choice because of what's in around us.
The State Racing Commission is looking at the issue studying
gambling in Nebraska and neighboring states. There's no question that Nebraskans
are playing slots in Iowa. The question is can slots save racing?
"We're looking at the monetary ills, but we also have to look at marketing
and continue to look at marketing, because money isn't going to solve all the
problems."
"Why are the slots gonna help the horse racing jobs?
The assumption seems to be that if people arrive at Ak-Sar-Ben, they will bet
on the horses, and I don't think that's true. My fear is that this is simply
a horse and buggy industry, and it's going to go the way of the horse and buggy."
Herb Riecken's no stranger to the winner's circle, but he
and the rest of the business may need a little luck to get back there again.
Reporting for STATEWIDE, I'm Brad Penner.
STATEWIDE is funded
in part by the Shoemaker Family Foundation of Cambridge, Nebraska, building
bridges of understanding between rural and urban Nebraska through its support
of statewide news programming.
But since 1985 racing has been in decline. Some say it won't
survive the winter without a lot of help. Brad Penner took a look at the changes
facing the business. Brad?
[Ak-Sar-Ben Manager:] "It's probably actually taken a lot of my business
away from Ak-sar-ben and taken me over there because there's just -- there's
a lot more going on."
[Herb Rieckens on his farm:] "Down here now maybe in the morning there's
10, 11 people working for me. It varies with the amount of horses we got in.
It's seven days a week and everybody's here. When you have this many horses
-- like there's 70-some horses around here -- and you start worming them all
-- six or seven bucks a crack -- and then vaccinating, don't take long to run
up a couple thousand bucks real quick."