Some Maine Horsepeople Looking South

Published: November 17, 2011 03:45 pm EST

The most recent push to get slot machine gaming into southern Maine, which encompasses Scarborough Downs, has failed, and horsepeople have gone on the record as saying they are considering pulling up shop and relocating to slots-rich racing states

.

According to a report on keepmecurrent.com, Renee Robertson and her husband, Dick Robertson, have had enough of the simply economics of the current state the Maine industry finds itself in.

"Look at this horse," Renee, was quoted as saying, referring to a horse in the program. "He shows racing at Yonkers (in New York) going for $17,000. He shows racing at Pocono (Pennsylvania) going for $24,000. The horse just raced here (Scarborough Downs, in Maine) going for $4,000."

Renee went on to say, "If you were the owner of that horse, would you rather get 50 per cent of $17,000, or $4,000?" and she followed by saying, "Down there, with the slot revenue, we can work half as hard as we do for twice as much money."

(With files from keepmecurrent.com)

Tags
Have something to say about this? Log in or create an account to post a comment.