Description: New York subsidizes the failing horse racing industry with billions of dollars that should be redirected to services benefiting all New Yorkers.
CAMPAIGN TO END HORSE RACING SUBSIDIES Belmont Boondoggle What Horse Racing Doesn’t Want You to See Billions in Subsidies Could New York’s Horse Racing Bailouts and Subsidies Be the Largest Corporate Welfare Boondoggle in State History? Three billion dollars in casino revenue has already been used to prop up the horse racing industry, and these increased subsidies are now expected to cost taxpayers at least $1 billion every four years. Residents of New York should be the recipients of these casino profits,
Millions of private businesses in the state have operated entirely without casino subsidies. Why does horse racing receive this corporate welfare?
Few New Yorkers ever see the inside of a racetrack. Attendance at races has been in continual decline for decades—with no probability of recovery. Except for the brief 40-day Saratoga season and the Belmont Stakes day, grandstands are virtually empty. Aqueduct Racetrack has a capacity of 40,000 people and used to be jammed with fans. Now it’s a virtual ghost town, and attendance has declined by more than 90%. Yonkers Raceway formerly averaged 25,000, but 2018 reports show just 90 fans per race date—a 99% de