N.J. $100 million racetrack-subsidy bill goes to governor

The New Jersey Legislature on Thursday passed a bill providing $100 million in subsidies to the state’s Thoroughbred and harness racing industries over the next five years, but only after an amendment was attached to the bill to provide state oversight of the payments' impact.

The bill now advances to Gov. Phil Murphy (D) for his signature.

The measure requires racetracks to provide the legislature and the state’s racing commission with annual data that would attempt to assess the impact of the subsidies on the industry’s economic performance, such as field size and attendance and wagering data. The amendment was added to the bill earlier this week, in advance of the Thursday vote.

The New Jersey Senate had passed the bill unanimously in December. Members of an Assembly committee attached the amendment to the bill on Monday, the full Assembly conducted a vote on the new bill on Thursday afternoon, and the Senate then passed the legislation following the Assembly vote.

Dennis Drazin, the head of the company that operates Monmouth Park under a lease with the state, said that the subsidies will be a “long-needed shot in the arm” for the state’s racing industry and predicted that the governor will sign the bill.

Racing interests in the state have been lobbying for government help since an agreement expired in 2010 that sent $17 million annually from the state’s casinos to the racing industry, in exchange for racing interests declining to seek casino-type gambling.

The bill will dole out $20 million each year in taxpayer money to boost purses at Monmouth Park, the Meadowlands, and Freehold Raceway. Monmouth’s purses would receive $10 million of the annual outlay, with the Meadowlands getting $6 million and Freehold $1.6 million. The remainder would go toward breeders’ awards.

The subsidy payments will begin this year.