As I told Jerry when he said essentially the same thing, you can't convince the state legislators to allow you to reduce the takeout (even with the proof that Barry Schwartz had) until you can get the crowds back at the track.

Slots won't do it because the people who go to Charlestown or the other racetrack casinos don't even have to walk through the track to get there; but the race goers usually have to go through the casino.

And slots won't further the game or the industry for long-term survival. Tell me how many new fans of horseracing have come out of the casino rooms long enough to look at a racing form or even a horse?

When the Del Mar spokesman tells the local television audience on opening day that "there are no horses in the Del Mar ads for a reason"; that "this meet is not for hardcore handicappers"; and it's all about the "social aspects - eating and drinking"...you have more basic problems to deal with than the inflated and admittedly problematic takeout.

And if you continue to point to the take-out, you are giving the people who run the tracks another excuse for inaction because the takeout is not something they can effect changes in unilaterally. And once again, they can say..."the fault dear Brutus is not in us but in our stars".



Delmar Deb