Pinning Their Hopes on Off-Track Betting; Potential Operators Say Parlors Would Make Va. Horse Racing Viable
It's been four years since Virginians approved horse-race gambling in a statewide referendum, and still no one has applied to build and operate a track.</br></br>But the racing industry, struggling for patrons as it copes with a recession and problems in attracting younger bettors, could move closer to expanding into Virginia if voters in Falls Church, Fairfax City and a few other jurisdictions in the state approve measures in referendums next month to allow off-track betting parlors.</br></br>Potential track operators say that such parlors are the only way to make horse racing economically viable in Virginia, which for decades has exported champion horses - including Secretariat, the 1973 Triple Crown winner - to other states with tracks.</br></br>"It would be difficult for anyone to put in an application {for a racetrack} without at least having a foothold in Northern Virginia," saidBill Miller, a former Rosecroft Raceway owner and a spokesman for the potential track investor group known as Virginia Racing Associates.</br></br>Off-track betting parlors would increase the number of bettors supporting a racetrack, allowing people who do not live near the track to place bets, watch races on television and collect winnings. Virginia law allows up to six parlors owned and run by track operators.