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Sandown Might Have Options Other Than
Slot Machines
With
the decision not to allow slot machines
at Sandown Park, owners said that the
park would not be able to survive
without them. They had asked the gaming
commission to allow the slot machines as
a way to supplement the money that was
coming into the park from harness
racing. Without the slot machine
revenue, the park said it could not
afford to keep running as it could not
afford the purses needed to continue
racing.
However, the B.C. Standardbred
Association and the Standardbred
Breeders’ Society have asked the gaming
enforcement commission to set up a
meeting with Sandown’s owners, Great
Canadian Gaming Corporation. David
Aldred, Standardbred Association’s
Executive Director said that he thinks
the two sides should be able to come to
a meeting next month. He also said, "The
decision [to close the park] took the
legs out from under the people in the
racing industry. We are fighting to keep
Sandown alive. It may be a smaller cog,
but it is a very important one."
He
is, of course, referring to the Great
Canadian announcement that it would not
proceed with an application to the North
Saanich council to rezone and redevelop
the racetrack (including adding slot
machines), instead opting to close the
park down for the summer – many were
shocked. Their VP Howard Blank has since
said that they will meet with the
association, but they still don’t see
the company running a summer schedule
without slot machines. "We gave notice
the cost to operate racing is
prohibitive for us within the model we
are currently operating under," Blank
said. He says that the company was
planning on surviving with those slot
machines, and it is not cost effective
for them to keep the track open the way
it is.
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