Gun Lake Casino in Wayland Twp. receives slot machines
WAYLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WZZM) — Some of the gaming machines at West Michigan’s next casino are now in place.
The Gun Lake Casino received its first shipment of slot and video poker machines Tuesday morning. When it opens in February, the casino will feature more than 1,400 gaming machines. Workers began installing the first shipment of machines Tuesday. The Gun Lake Casino is located off exit 61 on U.S. 131 near Wayland. The grand opening is scheduled for the second week of February.
And what does it result in?
Excerpt: “I think everyone can agree that West Michigan needs jobs.”
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Yeah they need them here too in Southern Eastern Michigan.
Now how many Tribunal Casino’s does this make here in Mich.? And three Non-Tribunal ones sitting in Detroit. But 5 little old Race Tracks that were all here first can’t get a piece of this action?
WHY?
Have you not received Millions and Millions in Revenue from the Horse Racing Industry here since 1933?
Then why is it that we cannot be allowed a Fair Playing Field?
I had to laugh this week when I posted a Blog about New Jersey’s legislators doing a about-face on the Horse Racing Industry there. Just two weeks prior they said they were ready to gear all the gaming it could to the Race Tracks. Slots, VLTS, Internet waging, etc….. THEN? It all hit a brick wall. To me it sounded like the N. Jersey Casino’s put a hell of a lot of money in big gigantic suitcases and handed them to the House and Senate in N. Jersey. I loved these couple of sentences, it defined this Madness between Horse Tracks and Casino’s in a nut shell.
Currently, Atlantic City’s casinos pay $30 million a year to subsidize horse racing statewide, boosting the purses at state-owned racetracks in return for the racetracks agreeing not to pursue VLTs or slot machines. That deal expires at the end of 2011.
The high-lighted words said it all. You see that’s what our Governor’s office spokeswoman tried to play to the media here too. That Mi. Subsidizes Racing here as well. Yet they couldn’t provide one single damn example of it. Reality is Michigan reaps the benefit of Horse Racings 3.5% tax off Simulcasting here. Horse Racing can’t touch a dime of what it generates for their own programs.
In N. Jersey, Casino’s are bullshitting everyone and unless you’re Blind, Deaf, Dumb and Beyond Stupid. You comprehend that New Jersey’s Casino’s pay the Race Tracks so they won’t pursue what they have. Further Gaming, and why not? Because they know it will take a large slice out of their business if the Tracks get what the Casino’s have.
What favors are the Casino’s doing for N. Jersey Race Tracks that the Tracks can’t do for themselves? If that State and others like them as in Michigan give Horse Racing what it really deserved? The simple common decency and respect for an Industry that has generated tons of money to the States that have had Horse Racing in them for three-quarters of a century to a century, but most of all to treat the tens of thousands of workers and jobs that Horse Racing directly effects and work towards the efforts of saving them first.
How can one justify the joy in gaining new jobs at Casino’s when in reality your axing 42,000 of them in Horse Racing? Trading off one Industry for another? Only in this case it was the Horse Racing Industry that was here first helping to hold up Mi. for decades. And why cannot our State legislators understand that both can comfortably and equally exist together.
Ever since Pinnacle Race Course in Huron Township got built, people have come out of the woodwork like cockroaches strategizing from every which angle trying to successfully tear it back down. Most notably Hazel Park Raceway with their pin-up boy Dan Adkins trying to expunge as if he has constant stomach flu on a daily basis attempting to exclude this Thoroughbred Race Track from gaining anything at all. Even if it means his own death. In the end Hartman & Tyner will spit him out like a big giant fur ball that’s been caught in a cats stomach for way too long.
Because face it, Thoroughbreds hold the key to the Thoroughbred Simulcasting Signal in this State. You rid us for good and you’re as dead as us. 95% of Hazel Park and Northville Downs business on Saturday and Sunday afternoons are people betting on Thoroughbred Races. 75% of weekdays evenings while live racing is taking place at these tracks are still being bet on the Thoroughbred Racing Signals. No Thoroughbred Racing in the State for good and you can’t Simulcast T.B.s anymore. How long do you think your doors will remain open without Thoroughbred Racing to bet on?
But then Hazel Park and the very silent NVD know damn well that they could care less about live racing anyway. Harness or Thoroughbred. Somehow they thought they were going to get some bullshit petition to go through Lansing without one single provision to protect Live Racing in the State. The only stupid ones were them.
To the MHHA I say you can either fight with us or die with us, it is strictly your choice. But the game playing has ended.
I cannot see Hazel Park not giving the Harness Horsemen a contract. HORSE RACING LAW OF 1995 otherwise they can’t simulcast.
(a) The applicant shall have a current contract with a certified horsemen’s organization. ( Below )
Brett Boyd played the HBPA just like Adkins did in the summer. Playing we want to make nice with you when most of us know there’s not one thing even remotely nice about the Harness Folks in Michigan. You have been a thorn in the Thoroughbreds asses for long enough. I say hand the MHHA a Dagger, but it won’t be the Thoroughbreds they cut the throats of. Finally this time it will be their own. Once and for good.
Hazel Park is not just trying to just kill Pinnacle Race Course and the Thoroughbreds. They are trying to kill you off as well more than you could ever know. You have been their pawns like chess pieces on a chess board, only when they feel they’ve been successful in a checkmate against the HBPA and Thoroughbreds. When concluded, You’re Next.
Have no doubt about that.
Detroit Casino’s feel threatened, but not by Hazel Park. And for an obvious reason. You’ve all been gunning for PRC.
So if the you really feel threatened part is an act that You are portraying but think it’s not reality, think again?
I said it when DRC went down and the Harness rejoiced, one day these people are going to need us but they’re going to realize they killed us off years before. Well it’s come down to this day hasn’t it? You know it because your ass is on the line just like ours right now. Or don’t you know it?
Well I’ll tell you something. You know what I miss along with everyone else here that at one time or another liked to bet on the Harness in Michigan?
The days of that long long stretch at The Detroit Race Course and the Wolverine Harness Meet that ran there. And everybody in the Harness Game during those days would agree. The Mile tracks had an excitement about them that couldn’t match having to just go around the track just once instead of twice? No small little jam ups like on half of milers or bull rings. It was wide open competition. A long backstretch in-which to maneuver and a long home stretch for even the slowest of come from be-hinders. Everybody had a chance. I remember Executioner, Four Mile Thunder and Rusty Jet.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have that again? Gamblers would love it and you may get some people back that dropped off the radar.
It’s not impossible you know. We even have enough stalls to accommodate those that normally only race in their own states. 600 stalls and that Mile Wonder Pinnacle has just waiting for them all.
Now whose ass do we have to kiss. I don’t see that any of us have to kiss anybodies. Like I said, fight with us or die with us. But understand all of the ramifications of your choices completely.
Casino’s steadily beat their drums. A combination of Thoroughbred, Harness & Agriculture coming together as a whole and as one can be a mighty force to deal with. All of us can make a lot more noise together. And we can also make up the rules. About time the Track Owners fear us instead of the other way around.
When one can handle 1,200 lbs. of a Horse, I do not see the tactics of much less in weight humans conquering us unless you absolutely lay down and let them conquer you. But understand it’s the State we must fight first not ourselves. We must make enough noise right in front of them until they cannot ignore us any more. We must make them understand that it is our 42,000 jobs that have generated money and given to them long before the Lottery and Casino Games got here. And we are 7 day a week hard working individuals that are worthy of their attention.
Then the Horsemen/Women will have the control. Not the Track Owners but us. For if the State allows us the further gaming to not only exist but thrive. We will have and hold the key to our futures and let all the Track Owners know and understand that if they don’t meet our needs. They don’t make money. For a State in which a city obtained the nickname of Motor City I shouldn’t have to explain all this. Jimmy Hoffa and the Unions controlled the Auto Industry, not the other way around.
Fear no one, Fight everyone, Come out the Victors. But we have no time left so what in the hell is there to lose?
As a Thoroughbred Horseman/Woman I am fed up with the word Casino and how that word alone has slaughtered our Industry. And am as equally fed up with the word Race Track Owner. I would think a Harness Horseman/Woman would be on that same page.
Let me know when you’ve had enough of them. But enough with the games. Death for all, Vision for all. Decide.
Reminds me of one of The Who’s songs. I can see for miles and miles and miles. They sure as hell didn’t say one word about seeing only 5/8-of a mile.
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HORSE RACING LAW OF 1995 (EXCERPT)
Act 279 of 1995
431.318 Simulcast; authorization; definition; “intertrack simulcast” and “interstate simulcast” explained; permit; conditions; wagering; pools; payment to horsemen’s simulcast pool; transmission of simulcast signals; simulcasting other events prohibited.
Sec. 18.
(1) Simulcasting by race meeting licensees may be authorized by the racing commissioner subject to the limitations of this section. As used in this section, “simulcast” means the live transmission of video and audio signals conveying a horse race held either inside or outside this state to a licensed race meeting in this state. A simulcast from 1 racetrack in this state to another racetrack in this state shall be called an “intertrack simulcast”. A simulcast from a racetrack outside this state to a racetrack inside this state shall be called an “interstate simulcast”.
(2) The holder of a race meeting license may apply to the racing commissioner, in the manner and form required by the commissioner, for a permit to televise simulcasts of horse races to viewing areas within the enclosure of the licensed racetrack at which the applicant is licensed to conduct its race meeting. The commissioner may issue a permit for individual race and full card simulcasts televised during, between, before, or after programmed live horse races on any day that live racing is conducted by the applicant, and also on other days during the term of the applicant’s license when the applicant does not conduct live horse racing, subject to the following conditions:
(a) The applicant shall have a current contract with a certified horsemen’s organization.
(b) The applicant shall have applied for and been allocated the minimum number of live racing dates required by section 12(1) to (5), subject to the availability of adequate horse supply as determined by the racing commissioner.
(c) The applicant shall make a continuing good faith effort throughout the duration of its race meeting to program and conduct not less than 9 live horse races on each live racing date allocated to the applicant.
(d) The certified horsemen’s organization with which the applicant has contracted shall have consented to the requested simulcasts on any live racing day when the applicant is unable to program and conduct not less than 9 live horse races, if required by section 12(6).
(e) If the requested simulcasts are interstate, the applicant shall waive in writing any right that the applicant may have under the interstate horse racing act of 1978, Public Law 95-515, 15 U.S.C. 3001 to 3007, to restrict interstate simulcasts by other race meeting licensees in this state.
(f) If the applicant conducts its race meeting in a city area, the applicant shall make the video and audio signals of its live horse races available for intertrack simulcasting to all licensed race meetings in this state located more than 12 miles from the applicant’s race meeting. The applicant shall charge each race meeting licensee the same fee to receive its live signals for intertrack simulcasting. The fee shall not exceed 3% of the total amount wagered on the intertrack simulcast at each race meeting that receives the simulcast.
(g) Except as otherwise agreed by the race meeting licensees in a city area and the respective certified horsemen’s organizations with which they contract, a licensee in a city area shall receive all available intertrack simulcasts from licensed race meetings in the city area located more than 12 miles from the licensee’s race meeting.
(h) A licensed race meeting outside a city area shall not conduct interstate simulcasts unless it also receives all intertrack simulcasts from licensed race meetings in a city area that are available.
(i) All applicants conducting licensed race meetings in a city area shall authorize all other race meeting licensees in the state to conduct simulcasts of the breed for which the applicant is licensed to conduct live horse racing. An applicant may not conduct interstate simulcasts unless authorization to do so is given by the applicant, in accordance with subdivision (j), permitting all other race meeting licensees to receive interstate simulcasts of a different breed than they are licensed to race live.
(j) A race meeting licensee shall not conduct an interstate simulcast of a different breed than it is licensed to race live at its race meeting, unless the licensee has the written permission of all race meeting licensees in a city area that are licensed to race that breed live at their race meetings.
(k) All authorized simulcasts shall be conducted in compliance with the written permit and related orders issued by the racing commissioner and all other requirements and conditions of this act and the rules of the racing commissioner promulgated under this act.
(l) All authorized interstate simulcasts shall also comply with the interstate horse racing act of 1978, Public Law 95-15, 15 U.S.C. 3001 to 3007.
(3) All forms of wagering by pari-mutuel methods provided for under this act for live racing shall be allowed on simulcast horse races authorized under this section. All money wagered on simulcast horse races at a licensed race meeting shall be included in computing the total amount of all money wagered at the licensed race meeting for purposes of section 17. When the simulcast is an interstate simulcast, the money wagered on that simulcast shall form a separate pari-mutuel pool at the receiving track unless 2 or more licensees receive the same interstate simulcast signals or the racing commissioner permits the receiving track to combine its interstate simulcast pool with the pool created at the out-of-state sending track on the same race. If 2 or more licensees receive the same interstate simulcast signals, the money wagered on the simulcasts shall be combined in a common pool and the licensees shall jointly agree and designate at which race meeting the common pool will be located. However, if the law of the jurisdiction in which the sending racetrack is located permits interstate common pools at the sending racetrack, the racing commissioner may permit pari-mutuel pools on interstate simulcast races in this state to be combined with pari-mutuel pools on the same races created at the out-of-state sending racetrack. If the pari-mutuel pools on the interstate simulcast races in this state are combined in a common pool at the out-of-state sending track, then the commissions described in section 17 on the pool created in this state shall be adjusted to equal the commissions in effect at the sending track under the laws of its jurisdiction. If the simulcast is an intertrack simulcast, the money wagered on that simulcast at the receiving racetrack shall be added to the pari-mutuel pool at the sending racetrack.
(4) Each race meeting licensee that receives an interstate simulcast shall pay to the horsemen’s simulcast purse pool established under section 19 a sum equal to 40% of the licensee’s net commission from all money wagered on the interstate simulcast, as determined by section 17(3) after first deducting from the licensee’s statutory commission the applicable state tax on wagering due and payable under section 22 and the actual verified fee paid by the licensee to the sending host track to receive the interstate simulcast signal. The licensee shall retain the remaining balance of its net commission and shall be responsible for paying all other capital and operational expenses related to receiving interstate simulcasts at its race meeting. Any subsequent rebate of a fee paid by a licensee to receive interstate simulcast signals shall be shared equally by the licensee and the horsemen’s simulcast purse pool established under section 19.
(5) A race meeting licensee licensed to conduct pari-mutuel horse racing in a city area shall provide the necessary equipment to send intertrack simulcasts of the live horse races conducted at its race meeting to all other race meeting licensees in this state, and shall send its intertrack simulcast signals to those licensees upon request for an agreed fee, which shall not exceed 3% of the total amount wagered on the race at the receiving track. Race meeting licensees that send or receive intertrack simulcasts shall make the following payments to the horsemen’s purse pools:
(a) Each race meeting licensee that sends an intertrack simulcast shall pay 50% of the simulcast fee that it receives for sending the simulcast signal to the horsemen’s purse pool at the sending track.
(b) Each race meeting licensee that receives an intertrack simulcast shall pay to the horsemen’s simulcast purse pool established pursuant to section 19 a sum equal to 40% of the receiving track’s net commission from wagering on the intertrack simulcast under section 17(3) after first deducting from the licensee’s statutory commission the applicable state tax on wagering due and owing under section 22 and the actual verified fee paid by the receiving track to the sending host track to receive the intertrack simulcast signal.
(6) The racing commissioner may authorize a race meeting licensee to transmit simulcasts of live horse races conducted at its racetrack to locations outside of this state in accordance with the interstate horse racing act of 1978, Public Law 95-515, 15 U.S.C. 3001 to 3007, or any other applicable laws, and may permit pari-mutuel pools on such simulcast races created under the laws of the jurisdiction in which the receiving track is located to be combined in a common pool with pari-mutuel pools on the same races created in this state. A race meeting licensee that transmits simulcasts of its races to locations outside this state shall pay 50% of the fee that it receives for sending the simulcast signal to the horsemen’s purse pool at the sending track after first deducting the actual verified cost of sending the signal out of state.
(7) Simulcasting of events other than horse races for purposes of pari-mutuel wagering is prohibited.
History: 1995, Act 279, Imd. Eff. Jan. 9, 1996 ;– Am. 1998, Act 408, Imd. Eff. Dec. 21, 1998
Admin Rule: R 285.812.1 et seq. of the Michigan Administrative Code.
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© 2009 Legislative Council, State of Michigan
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I know you’ve deceived me, now here’s a surprise
I know that you have ’cause there’s magic in my eyes
I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles
Oh yeah
If you think that I don’t know about the little tricks you play
And never see you when deliberately you put things in my way
Well, here’s a poke at you
You’re gonna choke on it too
You’re gonna lose that smile
Because all the while
I can see for miles and miles
I can see for miles and miles
I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles
Oh yeah
You took advantage of my trust in you when I was so far away
I saw you holding lots of other guys and now you’ve got the nerve to say
That you still want me
Well, that’s as may be
But you gotta stand trial
Because all the while
I can see for miles and miles
I can see for miles and miles
I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles
Oh yeah
I know you’ve deceived me, now here’s a surprise
I know that you have ’cause there’s magic in my eyes
I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles
Oh yeah
The Eiffel Tower and the Taj Mahal are mine to see on clear days
You thought that I would need a crystal ball to see right through the haze
Well, here’s a poke at you
You’re gonna choke on it too
You’re gonna lose that smile
Beacuse all the while
I can see for miles and miles
I can see for miles and miles
I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles
and miles and miles and miles and miles
I can see for miles and miles*
*(sung 9 times, fading)
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