Why support a dead industry?

Whether it's Beacon Hill and House Speaker "Racino" DeLeo or Albany, all the arguments to 'Save Racetracks' with slots are the same flawed arguments to prop up a dead industry.

Maybe it's time to consider the collapse of greyhound racing and accept the inevitable.

NYRA needs to change course makes a few good points about government bailouts to racetracks and market saturation, but maybe we should be asking "Why?"

The funding mechanism for the New York Racing Association is kind of like the guy at the bar who vows to keep drinking so he can postpone the hangover.

Ultimately, the plan implodes and all you're left with is an empty wallet and a massive headache.

So even though it was probably wise in the short-term for the state to loan the racing association $25 million to keep it afloat while it works on getting video slot machines installed at Aqueduct, there's no way the state or NYRA can keep going with this plan forever. Eventually, the money will dry up and the pain will come.

State bailouts, OTB income, lottery receipts and video gambling are temporary and unreliable sources of revenue to sustain a $2 billion industry that employs thousands of people, sustains dozens of farms and other related support systems, and props up the summer tourist season in Saratoga.

And experts on the industry, including famous trainer D. Wayne Lukas and economist Richard Thalheimer, told the Associated Press last week that they're worried that the horse racing will become a drain on the money-generating slot machine parlors, eventually prompting them to disassociate themselves with racing so they can keep more of the gambling revenue.

"The horsemen need to make sure that when they embrace casinos, that they have a locked-in contract," Lukas told the AP. "because the casinos will eventually wake up and say, ‘We don't need the horses. We're doing fine without the horses.'"

If you want proof that that's occurring now, pop into the Saratoga racino, which was supposed to act as a draw for the harness races. Hardly anyone watches the racing unless they're escaping the slot area for a cigarette or a little air.

The growing competition and the uneasy relationship between gambling and racing over revenues means that slot machines to sustain the horse racing industry is unreliable and short-sighted as a revenue source.