When in doubt, attack

With New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie waffling and threatening to sidle over to the horsey set, granting them their long-held wish for racinos, former Atlantic City mayor and current state Sen. James Whelan (below) launched a preemptive strike. He wants to kick the $30 million subsidy that is extorted from paid by brick-and-mortar casinos out from under the racing industry that uses it as a crutch. In so doing, Whelan made an argument that’s long overdue: “That’s what happens in a capitalist society. If there’s no demand for a product, why should we as an industry and as a society feel obligated to prop it up?”
Mind you, S&G has long been of the opinion that horse racing has been “selected out” by economic evolution and if it needs regular “fixes” of slot money, there’s something fundamentally wrong. The risk in Whelan’s audacity is that it may push Christie even further into the arms of the track lobby and/or that the latter will become even more militant in their demand to be hooked up to the IV that is slot play. It should also be noted that Whelan is the prime mover behind the misguided notion that the way to turn around Atlantic City is to append casinos to small hotels (turning it into the Macao of America), which is certain to further dilute the market. If anything is quantifiably demonstrable about Atlantic City — and many things are — it’s that the Boardwalk needs more gaming positions like it needs a hole in the head.