Muddy Waters

I've often wondered: Who do you vote for if you are pro-horse racing? The answer, unlike many other factions which are fairly clear, is pretty muddy.

Today in the Las Vegas Review Journal it was revealed there is a plank in the Republican platform that wants to outlaw internet gaming. That's good for horse racing, because we have a near-monopoly on web betting.

In Ontario, of course, the Liberals (slightly left of the Dem's in the US) took $345 million a year out of horse racing. That's bad.

In New York, the takeover of NYRA is almost complete, done by Mr. Cuomo, who is a Dem. NYRA hasn't run NY racing like a well oiled machine, but I don't know too many that think this is a good thing.

One can conclude that banning online gambling, destroying an industry in Ontario and NYRA's takeover makes us all want to vote "R" or conservative, in whichever country you live in.

But not so fast.

In Arizona, the attack on betting on the net - which included horse racing - came from the R's.

In Indiana, they were close - very close - to losing their slots money last year, and that state is headed by a conservative.

In Pennsylvania, 16.7% of slots cash was taken away. That's a Republican governor.

Add the fact that gambling as a whole usually gets hammered by the "R" side, hampering expansion of slots at racetracks, for example. 

In today's political season it gets very polarized, with everyone calling everyone else names. And there seems to be a visceral hatred of R's or D's, where nothing is wishy-washy.

If you are pro-horse racing, it's not that easy. It seems everyone is against us in some way, shape or form.