Meanwhile, the time has come for Philadelphia Park in Bensalem, Pa. On Dec. 19, some 2,100 slot machines became operational on the first and third floors of the five-story grandstand that sits on 440 acres just north of downtown Philadelphia, and with a net-win of about $370 per machine per day (12 percent of that total goes toward purses and other racing-related programs), a palpable sense of excitement has enveloped the local racing community. Philly Park eventually will have 5,000 machines, and the math for what that portends over time is mind-boggling.

Hal Handel, the chief executive officer at Philadelphia Park, took time on a recent Friday afternoon to give a private tour of the renovated facility, occasionally pausing to shake his head in wonderment at how dramatically his workplace is changing. Already, some $100 million has been allocated for Philly’s transformation into the newest player in the East Coast’s lineup of racinos, and Handel said the final investment probably will total $400 million to $600 million, “depending on what the final plans look like,” he said.

Philadelphia Park is one of 11 new casino facilities that have been licensed in Pennsylvania. Six are at racetracks (including Penn National), and five are stand-alone facilities, including two in the process of being built in downtown Philadelphia. There is a formula that determines how net winnings will be distributed to horsemen, the state, local municipalities, and a specially created tourism fund. The bottom line for racing at Philadelphia Park potentially could be “purses of $450,000 to $500,000 a day, when it’s all said and done,” said Handel.

The early gross revenue estimates for the 2,100 machines at Philadelphia Park are about $23 million per month. Penn National, located near the smaller market of Harrisburg, is expected to handle about half of what Philadelphia will.

Philadelphia Park joins Delaware Park, which began offering slots in December 1995, and Charles Town and Mountaineer Race Track, which started in 1997, in the racino parade that, by sheer competitive force, has exacerbated the problems that already existed in Maryland racing. Compounding the regional disadvantage is the fact that other states have buttressed their racing programs through various means: New York legalized slots at eight racetracks in 2001, including Finger Lakes and Aqueduct, although implementation at Aqueduct has been stalled by political infighting, and New Jersey is in the final year of a four-year deal that provides substantial casino subsidies to purses in exchange for an agreement that tracks did not pursue slots. When put into effect in 2004, the projected overall worth of the four-year subsidy was $86 million, which also included Standardbred purse subsidies as well as facility improvements for Monmouth Park for the 2007 Breeders’ Cup.

“Obviously we’re in a box in more ways than one,” said Raffetto.

The politically savvy Handel said he empathizes with the Maryland situation, having endured similar types of frustration during his lengthy tenures in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. “They are in a really, really tough spot,” he said. “If you go back 20 years, to the quality of horse and horsemen they had there, it was comparable to anywhere in the world. They are blessed with a racing heritage that not many other states have, which makes it all the more ironic that they find themselves in the very precarious situation they’re now in.”

From a national standpoint, Maryland is not alone. The racing industries in other key states such as California, Kentucky, and Illinois all continue to plead for financial relief by way of alternative gaming, and Handel wonders when, if ever, it might all reach a point of saturation.

“It seems the public has an insatiable appetite for slots,” he said. “How it all sorts itself out over the next five to 10 years is going to be very interesting.”

Such futuristic discussions, however, are of little help for Maryland racing, which currently finds itself in a time and place that fairly beg for immediate answers. Last weekend, when two Grade 2 stakes were run at Laurel partly as a way of interrupting the routine of winter, there was little joy in the frosty air, no doubt because of the uncertain future facing the circuit.

“We’ve reached critical mass,” said Raffetto. “We honestly cannot take any more of the status quo. Like I said, the clock is ticking.”

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