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Reports today indicate that Genting, the owner of the new slots casino at Aqueduct has made a proposal to eliminate racing at the Big A and move the winter meet to Belmont Park.   Last week, they proposed a $4 billion complex at Aqueduct to add a full scale casino, hotel and the country’s largest convention center.

All of that would be good for racing as it could introduce hundreds of thousands of new fans to racing, especially if an effort is made to promote racing.

Now, I can envision million dollar purses enhanced by the casino being held at Belmont before an empty grandstand.  This is good for owners, but not for racing overall.  At some point with no fans and less bettors, states will stop subsidizing racing from casino revenues and doom the sport.

Racing has benefited from racinos, but they now must draw the line to protect the horse industry.

The New Year means the return to the legislature in many states and an opportunity for horse racing to improve itself.  Adding casinos to the racing operations of course has been the most important actions for racing and we’ve been following what’s on tap for this year:

KENTUCKY:  Governor Beshear announced that this is the year to pass legislation to allow for a constitutional admendment to expand gambling in the state.  As usual pro-racing interests have lined up bills to add casinos to the state’s racetracks. Breeders have mounted a campaign that the nations top breeding industry is in trouble with New York expected to increase purses 40% this year due to slots at Aqueduct.

The legislation would require a statewide vote, so any help could be at least two years away.  Beshear did not outline any plan himself or what forms of gambling and their locales during his speech.

NEW YORK:  The Genting Company of Malaysia, operators of the new slots casino at Aqueduct has a working agreement in place with Governor Cuomo to built the country’s largest convention center at the Big A.  The slots added last fall have been a homerun and 2500 more games are on tap to open soon with purses up over 30% this month.  Genting wants to invest $4 billion into a complex including a 3000 room hotel.  They have proposed converting Aqueduct’s third floor meeting space into a table games casino as part of their efforts.

It is unclear though, if such an expansion of gambling will make it through the legislature and if it’s a constitutional change requiring passage over 2 years of the legislature and a statewide referendum.

Nonetheless, the success of the new casino is already sending shockwaves to casinos in nearby Connecticut, Atlantic City and Pennsylvania who have seen some impact and who can only wonder if expanded gambing in New York City will do their business.

PENNSYLVANIA  No...

Here is a list of this weekend’s stakes action courtesy of the Blood Horse:

Saturday:

• Aqueduct: Count Fleet S, $150,000g, 3yo, 8.32f.
• Busanda S, $100,000g, 3yo f, 8.32f.
• Gulfstream Park: Marshua’s River S (gr. IIIT), $100,000g, 4&up, f/m, 8.5f (turf).
• Santa Anita: San Pasqual S (gr. II), $150,000g, 4&up, 8.5f.
• Sham S (gr. III), $100,000g, 3yo, 8f.
• Tampa Bay Downs: Pelican S, $60,000g, 4&up, 6f.
• Turf Paradise: Kachina H, $35,000a, 4&up, f/m, 8f.
• Turfway Park: Turfway Prevue S, $50,000g, 3yo, 6.5f.

Sunday:

• Aqueduct: Argyle Lake S (R), $75,000g, 4&up, New York-bred, 6f.
• Rise Jim S, $75,000g, 4&up, 6f.
• Gulfstream Park: Ocala S (R), $60,000g, 4&up, f/m, Florida-bred, 8f.
• Santa Anita: Daytona S (gr. IIIT), $100,000g, 4&up, 6.5f (turf).
• Sunland Park: Winsham Lad H, $50,000g, 4&up, 8.32f.

Also from the Blood Horse we have the

The Eclipse Awards finalists (in alphabetical order) are:

The big purses of top quality racing from Dubai returns Thursday, Jan. 5 and Friday, January 6 and you can bet it on Idabet.com.  This week starts the Dubai World Cup Carnival and continues with more action in January on the 12, 20, 21 and 26th.

Check your email for complimentary past performances and selections for each racing card.  Thursday’s post time is 9:30 p.m.. EST and an early start 6 a.m. on Friday morning.

I was reading about another ADW today which requires you to bet at least $5000 before they reward you.  Then another which took an entire page to explain their rewards program that gave you points based on play which then converted to cash which obviously changes quite a bit that it’s like handicapping a race.

Not at Idabet.com.  We are all cash and basically no minimums.  On average our players get back 3% to 11% on a daily basis…and we post them every morning into your account.

You need to understand a few things how such rewards programs work.  A number of tracks do not allow any ADW’s to give you rewards.  In some cases, they are trying to woo you to their own ADW or it’s not their business model.  Others have smaller margins which lessen what they can offer.

At Idabet.com, we pay all of our players cash rewards direct from Idabet.com as a courtesy for playing with us.  Other ADW’s may run handicapping contests, discount programs or offer points for prizes instead, but we find our players prefer cash and let you choose what you want to do with it.

Our cash rewards are flexible to you also.  You can increase your cash rewards in several ways including:

-Seek out tracks and bets that pay you more.  Many of the mid-level tracks allow us to pay you better rewards and even more with exotic wagers.  We can help you find such tracks by just emailing me atSteve@Idabet.com.   I do realize you might have some favorite big name tracks out there, but there’s real value to be found by adding a few other tracks to your playing mix.

-Like any reward program, the more you play, the more you can earn.  We offer IdaPremium Rewards which can earn you up to an additional 2% of your daily play, paid every month.  Just go tohttps://idabet.com/promos.php to check out how simple...

Happy New Year to all from Idabet.com.  We are extending our NO DEPOSIT FEES promotions into the New Year as a continuing thank you to our players for making us the fastest growing ADW.

On all deposits except GreenDot, with a minimum of a $100 deposit, there will be NO FEES.

For Greendot: There must be a minimum of $250 (total per day) and customers will receive one $4.95 deposit credit per day.

All fees will be reimbursed to your account at the end of the next business day.

In this business with razor slim margins, Idabet.com does everything possible to get you the most value for your dollar.

From the Blood Horse, following is a list of stakes races for the New Year’s Holiday weekend: