Pennsylvania‘s horse tracks are on the brink, not from the usual reason — bad business — but due to state malfeasance. According to the State Racing Fund, it’s been sucked dry by the Department of Agriculture, including undocumented personnel costs. The Ag Department has been evidently been dipping into the Racing Fund whenever it had a financial hole to plug. Its dubious expenditures including hiring a Special Agriculture Advisor to the Governor, on a six-figure salary, and billing it to the Racing Fund.
The money in question is supposed to be going toward collecting various taxes and fees, funding the Horse & Harness Racing Commissions and Equine Laboratories, just for starters. Said Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, “If the State Racing Fund goes bankrupt, the racing industry would shut down.” The Race Horse Development Fund has been the victim of a similar help-yourself attitude, including plowing $185 million into the state’s general fund.
These funds find themselves caught between this pillaging and a 24% decline in wagering at Keystone State tracks since 2010. So, with that kind of pinch in effect, legislators need to slap the Agriculture Department’s mitts to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
