Renegade Liberal Offers Solution to Controversial Slots-at-Racetrack Program…

Dealtown, Ontario – March 4, 2012… The board of directors of the Dealtown Casino Initiative unanimously approved a proposal from Chairman, Brian Keenan, to incorporate a Super-Track Plan (STP) into current design and thinking for the Dealtown Casino Hotel & Retirement Resort in Southwestern Ontario.  Chatham-Kent’s mayor, Randy Hope, and local Conservative MPP, Rick Nicholls have met repeatedly with Keenan to discuss the proposal.  Both support any plan that would transform the deserted Southwestern Regional Centre (SWRC) in Dealtown into a bustling resort that would provide more than 3,000 new jobs to economically devastated Chatham-Kent. Keenan says, “The idea to add a super racehorse track to the Dealtown Casino plan came to me after reading all the horse manure being flung by the Ontario Liberal government and the Ontario Horse Racing and Breeding industry over the antiquated and controversial OLG Slots at Racetracks program.”  Don Drummond, in his Drummond Report, identified this agreement and several others areas under the domain of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) as areas that could, and should, be changed if the Minister of Finance, Dwight Duncan, was going to “maximize profits” from the gaming industry in Ontario. There is no disputing that the 10 year old OLG Slots at Racetracks program is broken and seriously flawed. Most of the 17 agreements have recently expired and unless someone at OLG seriously screwed up, those agreements have not yet been renewed since everyone at Queens Park and OLG were anxiously awaiting the Drummond Report before making any changes. During the initial 10 year term, more than $3.5 billion dollars was doled out to the Racetracks and Horse People; as the two groups are referred to by OLG. An additional $600+ million was paid directly to the municipalities in which the 17 racetracks are located. The first and most serious flaw deals with the nearly equal payment of 10% to both the Racetracks and Horse People of the slot machine revenues at these sites. The payments to the Horse People appears to have been used, as intended, to improve the breeding stock in Ontario and to support race purses at these tracks which in turn helps attract quality breeders to our province to share in the race purses. This was confirmed in the 2008 report to the Minister of Government and Consumer Services that dealt with the strategic vision and direction for the Ontario Horse Racing and Breeding industry. This same study confirmed that the payments to the Racetracks (owners and operators) seriously lacked any controls or accountability to OLG. Therein is the $1,750,000,000 problem! The second flaw in the current slot program was the belief and anticipation that locating the slot machines at these racetracks would somehow attract an increasing number of people to the track when the horses were actually racing. Unfortunately, almost the opposite happened in that the people, who were attracted to the slots, seldom, if ever, take in the horse racing which in itself is seasonal. They come to the track, morning, noon and night 365 days a year for the sole purpose of playing the slots. If the slots were relocated to another more convenient location in these same communities, as the Drummond Report suggests, slot revenues to OLG from these 17 locations would most certainly increase; and in all likelihood double or even triple.   For those unfamiliar with horse racing, you should understand that the 17 racetracks involved with the OLG Slot Program operate an average of only 88 days each year, with 9 tracks open for racing less than 88 days and 4 of these 9 operating less than 30 days a year. You should also know that there is more money spent playing Bingo than there is being bet on pari-mutual wagering in Ontario. The light went on after talking with Ontario racehorse owners and trainers and listening to the pleading by the Ontario Horse People to save the nearly 60,000 direct and indirect jobs associated with this largely rural based industry! Keenan believes that there is a Win, Win solution that can save all those jobs, put millions, if not billions, into Finance Minister Duncan’s deficit reduction bank account, and put another 3,000+ unemployed people back to work in Chatham-Kent and an equal number in several of the other Super-Track centers. Here are the key recommendations of Keenan’s Super-Track Plan: 1.      Terminate the Racetracks (owners and operators) subsidy currently paid to all 17 locations which amounted to $170 million last year and approximately $1.75 billion since the program started. If that money was used to improve the facilities at the respective racetracks then Ontario must have 17 of the finest tracks in the world and should not need further subsidies.  If past payments from OLG under the Slots-at-Track program were used to subsidize the operation of unprofitable tracks or line the owner’s pockets, as the finance minister suggests is happening, then the subsidies must stop anyway since the government can’t keep throwing good money after bad! 2.      Continue to operate the Slot facilities at the current 17 locations until the smaller tracks are closed because they will no longer be self-sufficient without subsidies. 3.      Continue to pay the Horse People 10% of the Slot revenue from the current 17 locations and expand the program to include additional slots added to the Super-Tracks equal to the number of slots currently installed at the smaller tracks that cease to operate. 4.      Allow the sponsor municipalities to relocate the slot centres to more suitable locations if the track closes or if a move might generate more revenue for the community, the Horse People and the government through its OLG arm. 5.      Designate the three race tracks that currently operate more than 150 days a year as Super-Tracks (Woodbine, Rideau and Flamboro). 6.      Build a forth Super-Track at the proposed 250 acre site of the Dealtown Casino that would provide service for Horse People if and when the tracks in Windsor, Sarnia, Dresden, Clinton and London close for economic reasons.  7.      Add additional days of track operations at the Super-Tracks to support closure of the smaller tracks in their respective regional areas. 8.      OLG should offer the current Racetrack Owners & Operators loans to transform the tracks that close and submit redevelopment plans for their facilities. To help you better understand the economics of this proposal, you must understand some of nit-ti gritty stuff.  For example, the owner/operator of the small racetracks in Windsor, Dresden and Woodstock received an estimated $78 million over the past decade under the slot program while the numbers for London’s Western Fair exceeds $100 million during the same period.  If the Keenan’s proposed plan is implemented, the Horse People will see an increase in revenue to support their industry!  OLG will contribute an additional $200+ million a year toward the current deficit.  The new Dealtown Casino and Super-Track will be built entirely by private investment and yet contribute nearly as much as the other major Ontario casino’s to the government treasury. Now doesn’t that sound like a winning proposition for everyone? But more importantly, it will pump several hundred million of capital construction into Southern Ontario.  It will create over 3000 new jobs in Chatham-Kent and the surrounding municipalities! It will increase the tax base in CK and thus lower our property taxes. Imagine, this is all possible because an economist named Don Drummond was asked to point out what the government could do to reduce its deficit without reducing the level of health care, education and other services that the folks in Ontario need.  Thank you Mr Drummond! By Brian Keenan, Chairman Dealtown Casino Initiative

A New Deal is Proposed for Race Horse Industry...

Chatham, ON. February 29, 2012...  Simple Solutions Can Save Ontario Liberals from Self Destruction…   The Toronto Casino, Ontario Place and Horse Racing subsidy issues are three explosive issues capable of bringing down the Liberals if solutions are not found before the next budget!   As many of my followers know, I have offered up a solution that would make some, maybe even all, the stakeholders in the Ontario horse racing industry very happy campers.  It would also cough up a couple of billion dollars towards Ontario’s bulging deficit. The article that I published over the weekend, titled “Don Drummond is a Genius”  provides a rough framework for this WIN, WIN solution.   In simple terms, here is what I have proposed and how it addresses Don Drummond’s recommendation to derive more income for the Ontario treasury from OLG. The solutions is really quite simple and can be almost painless, if not even comforting!  Let me walk you through the steps and the logic behind my plan, which for selfish reasons, I will continue to encompass under my Dealtown Casino Initiative (DCI) under the sub-heading of the Super-Track Plan (STP) because it gives new life to the old rusty failing OLG Slots at Racetracks program.   First, there is no disputing that the 10 year old OLG Slots at Racetracks program is broken and seriously flawed.  Most of the 17 agreements expired on December 31, 2011 and unless someone at OLG seriously screwed up, those agreements would not have been renewed yet since everyone at Queens Park and OLG was awaiting the Drummond Report before doing anything major. During the initial 10 year term, more than $3.5 billion dollars was dolled out to the Racetracks and Horse People as referred to by OLG.  An additional $600+ million was paid directly to the municipalities in which the 17 racetracks are located.   The first and most serious flaw deals with the nearly equal payment of 10% to both the Racetracks and Horse People of the slot machine revenues at these sites.  The payments to the Horse People appears to have been used to improve the breeding stock in Ontario and to support race purses at these tracks to attract quality breeders to our province to share in the race purses. This was confirmed in the 2008 report to the Minister of Government and Consumer Services that dealt with the strategic vision and direction for the Ontario Horse Racing and Breeding industry.  This same study confirmed that the payments to the Racetracks seriously lacked any controls or accountability to OLG.  Therein lays the $1,750,000,000 problem!   The second flaw in the current slot program was the belief and anticipation that locating the slot machines at these racetracks would somehow attract an increasing number of people to the track when the horses were actually racing.  Unfortunately, almost the opposite happened in that the people, who were attracted to the slots seldom , if ever, take in the horse racing which in itself is seasonal. They come to the track, morning, noon and night for the sole purpose of playing the slots. If the slots were relocated to another more convenient location in these same communities, as the Drummond Report suggested, revenues to OLG would most certainly increase; and in all likelihood it would double or even triple.    For those unfamiliar with horse racing, you should understand that the 17 racetracks involved with the OLC Slot Program operate an average of only 88 days each year, with 9 of them open for racing less than 88 days and 4 of these 9 operate less than 30 days a year.  You should also know that there is more money spent playing Bingo in Ontario than there is bet on pari-mutual wagering at these horse racing tracks in Ontario.   Ask yourself, “How could Don Drummond not point Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals to the OLG and its antiquated and seriously flawed Slots at Racetracks program and how could he not see that the gaming industry in Ontario is one of many ways to generate much needed revenues for the government’s war on its deficit?”  The knee-jerk solution from the Minister of Finance, Dwight Duncan was to open a big casino in Toronto and cut what he calls “the subsidy” program to the Ontario horse racing industry. That solution is seriously flawed for many reasons including the fact that I could take 3 to 5 years to build this mega-casino in Toronto and including the fact that it would seriously damage the horse racing industry in Ontario which supports 55 to 60 thousand jobs.   Along comes, little ole Brian Keenan, the self-appointed Chairman of the Dealtown Casino Hotel and Retirement Village initiative, DCI for short.  This initiative was started long before Keenan and most other folks in Ontario even heard of Don Drummond and his report.  It was started to bring new life to one of Ontario’s devastated communities, namely Chatham-Kent by delivering a modest 3,000 new jobs.  It was started to save the 650,000 sq ft 250 acre closed regional centre from being bulldozed.  It was started because the government passed over this suitable faciliy for that correctional institution in favour of a spanking new $247M building being built in Windsor in the Hon. Dwight Duncan’s riding.   Along came the Duncan Report that challenges the government to manage its real estate assets more efficiently and charged them to use OLG to generate more revenues.   Tune in to my next blog entry to learn how the revised Dealtown Casino Racetrack & Retirement Village initiative has been enhanced to save the Horse Racing and Breeding industry in Ontario. Learn how a few simple steps by the Ontario Liberal government can generate several billion dollars to eat away at the deficit.  Learn how the Liberals can be accomplished without spending more taxpayer’s money!      This is why I say, “Don Drummond is a Genius!”   -         30 – By Brian Keenan, Chairman Dealtown Casino Initiative

Don Drummond is a Genius!

Don Drummond is a Genius! Sometimes you just can’t see the forest for the trees! Mr Drummond is a genius, not because he has given us the solutions to the province’s deficit problem but because he identified the areas that need to be addressed.  It’s up to us to cultivate the ground-work he has done and plant the solution seeds! Don Drummond has pointed us to at least one way to clip over a billion from the deficit through OLG.  One of the problem areas Mr Drummond identified for us involves the revenue sharing agreements with the horse racing industry. Millions and millions of dollars have been paid to the race track operators and the Ontario race horse breeders over the past 10 or so years under the OLG Slots at Racetrack agreements.  The 2010 payments totaled $334 million alone. Half of that goes to the track owners and operators and half goes to the horse people. The horse people use those funds to improve the breeding stock in the province and support race purses to attract quality breeders to the tracks.  This side of the current formula supports 55,000 jobs (according to the HLT Report on Horse Racing) in Ontario and generates tons of tax revenues and spending for and in the province.  It would be like shooting yourself in the foot to tamper with this part of the arrangement so leave it alone. The industry derives its income from three sources: wagering on horse races, the sale of Ontario-bred racehorses and slot revenue. The Ontario Horse Racing Industry Association (OHRIA) manages the use of the slot revenues. The second part of the formula involves payments to the track owners and operators.  These payments to the 17 Slot at Track partners totaled $169 million in 2010 and many millions  (actually the number exceeds $1.5 billion) in previous years. The agreements anticipated that improvements would be made to racetrack infrastructures, they did not specifically require improvements to be made and benchmarks and controls were not put in place by OLG to ensure that this would happen. Most track operators did initially make improvement to their racing facilities to accommodate the slots, some more than others. With some exceptions, much of these millions of dollars paid to the track operators simply evaporated and most certainly have not been used to improve the facilities. Maybe Don Drummond saw this loop-hole in the Slots at Track program or maybe not but this is where a change and a new solution should be found; a solution that will NOT affect the revenue to the horse owners. Here is my solution to the later problem!  Transfer the ownership of the racetracks to OLG so that 50% of this subsidy or whatever you want to call it goes back to the government to help pay down the province’s staggering deficit. There is more!  Close some of the 17 racetracks and build Super-tracks with full service casinos at geographically disbursed locations, like Woodbine, Mohawk, Ajax Down, Fort Erie, Rideau and Sudbury. Oh, did I forget some of the tracks? Yes, because we need to eliminate some to consolidate. Now for the bite that will hurt the most but will help both the horse people and the industry. Close the Windsor, Sarnia, Dresden, Clinton and Western Fair tracks and add a Super-track to the Dealtown Casino Initiative where the government already owns a 250 acre parcel of prime real estate and where they already have a 650,000 sq ft resort facility that can be transformed into the Dealtown Casino Racetrack and Retirement Village AT NO COST TO ONTARIO TAXPAYERS! The casino and racetrack will be paid for by one of the major gaming and hospitality developers, like Penn National or Delaware North who have impressive track records in both racetracks and casinos, or partners like Paragon Gaming of Las Vegas or Donald Trump who both have solid track records in Canada. Thank you Mr Drummond for identifying the problem!  Now it’s time to implement the solutions! By Brian Keenan, Chairman of the Dealtown Casino Initiative

Niagara Falls Officials Cry the Blues…

Niagara Falls Officials Cry the Blues… Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor is a selfish, protectionist, cry-baby along with all the other Niagara officials!  More than a decade ago, the gaming authority in Ontario, OLG, gave new life and economic prosperity to Niagara Falls.  The decision to open, not one but two, casinos in Niagara Falls delivered some $2 billion in investments in hotels, restaurants and attractions to the city.  Now Craitor and city officials are crying foul on the chance that Toronto, or some other needier city, might get a casino. What about the concept of sharing good fortune with other much less fortunate cities? No, Craitor wants to keep the Golden Goose to himself, even if it means going against his party wishes.  He wants cities like Chatham to get the sour grapes, or should I say “the wind turbines” and “solar farms!” I am sick and tired of hearing the rich cities cry; and see cities like Windsor get one economic cookie after another, while cities like Chatham, Tilbury, Blenheim, Ridgetown and Wheatley (collectively called Chatham-Kent or CK) get literally wiped off the map. In the last decade CK has lost over 13,000 jobs which is about 20% of its adult workforce. The most recent census reported a drop in CK’s population in excess of 4500 souls.  The city with the 5th lowest real estate values in Canada has elegant Victorian mansions for sale at distress prices below the price of small condos or tiny town-houses in the GTA and the Niagara region. Read my lips Mr Craitor and all the other political officials crying foul about OLG lifting the moratorium on casinos; Chatham-Kent needs HELP and needs it NOW!  Unless someone has a better idea; that much needed help can come in the form of OLG’s support for the proposed Dealtown Casino Hotel and Retirement Village initiative.  This $200+ million facelift and transformation of the 650,000 sq ft Southwestern Regional Centre (SWRC) in tiny Dealtown on the north shore of Lake Erie will not compete with the Niagara casinos; will not compete with Casino Rama; and will not even compete with the Windsor casino. This retirement resort and casino will however chase the ghosts out of Dealtown and Chatham-Kent. Mr Craitor and pals, it’s our turn! Brian Keenan