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Good news for metropolitan New York—Yonkers has opened
their doors as the first location in metropolitan New York with slot
machines—1,870 slot machines to be exact! Yonkers is a horse racetrack that
has been foundering in recent years, and for that reason, Yonkers has
undergone extensive renovations over the last 16 months. Though the facility
is still under construction, this initial push of slot machines is welcomed
by New Yorkers.
Currently the racetrack has suspended horse racing throughout the
renovations, and is using the initial slot machines to build enthusiasm.
Once the facility is complete Yonkers may well be the largest combination
facility in the U.S. Yonkers will operate 7,500 slot machines in addition to
harness racing. And as a bonus for opening slot machines so soon, Yonkers
will be the sole operator in the area until Aqueduct can cut though all of
the bureaucratic red-tape and open their preliminary approved slot machine
racino.
And the great news for both the racetrack and New York state is that Yonkers
anticipate millions of dollars in daily revenue from their slot machine
operations, in addition to a huge increase in horse racing purses. And
considering the amount of enthusiasm the slot machines will bring back to
horse racing, Yonkers president Tim Rooney is encouraged about the longevity
of horse racing at Yonkers: “ I think the racing here is going to be
tremendous. The purse structure will bring back the better horses like we
were used to in the past. We are going to be increasing the value of our
stakes races dramatically. All this is going to bring back the attention and
the importance of harness racing in New York, and everyone is going to see
it again as the great sport that it is.”
Others though aren’t so sure that Yonkers plans to really encourage
enthusiasm in horseracing. According to Joe Faraldo, “I don’t believe
management has any intention of having live racing here in calendar year
2006. They don’t care about racing; racing has become secondary to them.
Racing is not cost efficient when you can have slot machines. With slots,
you don’t have to grade the track, cart away manure. You don’t have to do a
whole myriad of things. The longer they can get away with not racing, the
better.”
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