Sports Betting's Impact on Monmouth Park Racetrack and NJ

Steve Adubato and Dennis Drazin, CEO of Monmouth Park Racetrack and Chairman and CEO of Darby Development LLC, discuss the legalization of sports betting, how it has impacted Monmouth Park Racetrack and what it will bring to the entire state of New Jersey including increased revenue and tourism.

7/7/18 #214

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

"We're pleased to welcome Dennis Drazin, who is the CEO of Monmouth Park Racetrack in New Jersey. One of the most beautiful tracks in the nation? It is. Thank you. Because? It's a jewel of racing. It really is. It is. Yeah. It's gorgeous. And I was just saying... full disclosure, my family's been there many times, not that we bet, we just... you know. That's a joke. Listen, legalized sports betting! As we do this program toward the end of June, it happened. I saw Governor Murphy. He was the one who placed, I believe, the first bet? He was. He came down on Thursday. He placed the first bets. He bet Germany to win the World Cup. Yes he did. And the Devils to win the Stanley Cup. How many people did you have on Father's Day? Father's Day, we had 23,700 people, all clamoring to come bet racing, enjoy our park, and that's sports betting. Dennis, break this down for us. I mean, you were telling me, before we got on the air, that you and your colleagues have been planning for legalized sports betting in New Jersey since 2013? Yeah, we started the first renovation 2013, we've actually been in this fight with the leagues for over... years. Professional sports leagues? Correct. And we first built out the William Hill Sports Bar in 2013. We got stopped again in 2014 with an injunction from the leagues. And then after the Supreme Court arguments on December 4th, I was pretty certain we were gonna win. And so we went ahead and spent additional money, another million and a half, to renovate our grandstand to be ready for opening day. And you know, we're into it for five million now, between renovations, legal fees and the struggle, but... biggest bet I ever made, and we won. We're ready to do sports betting at Monmouth Park, and it was well received. The first four days of business was terrific. And I think it's really gonna make a difference. It's gonna bring people back to racetracks and casinos, it's gonna make us healthy again, the state of New Jersey's gonna get a good tax revenue from all this, and it's really... you have to look at it for the big picture. This was a huge victory for states' rights in this country. Why states' rights? Well, the Supreme Court, when they looked at the issues… The United States Supreme Court? The United States Supreme Court. When they looked at the issues of Tenth Amendment, federalism, states' rights, they ultimately decided that the states' rights issue prevailed, that the federal government can't enact a..."