Agreements on advance deposit wagering contracts have been reached for Calder Race Course and Gulfstream Park, officials on both sides of negotiations confirmed Dec. 22.
The agreements should enable all major ADWs to take Internet and phone bets, said Kent Stirling, executive director of the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, which has been involved in protacted negotiations since April.
“We have a written offer (from CDI), and we have given our written consent,” Stirling said. “As far as we are concerned, this will allow ADW signals to be turned on immediately for Calder.”
Stirling said the deal will be effective through next year's Calder and Tropical-at-Calder meets, while Florida HBPA president Sam Gordon told The Blood-Horse the agreement calls for ADWs to pay a 7% fee on handle from the Calder signal and a 9% fee on handle from the Gulfstream signal.
Additionally, the Florida HPBA has reached agreement with Gulfstream on a 2009 purse contract, Stirling said. Calder will end its current meet Jan. 2, and Gulfstream will open its 2009 meet Jan. 3.
The Florida HPBA is a member of the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Group, which has generally been seeking one-third of ADW revenue for its member horsemen’s groups. “We are thankful for the help that THG has given us on this, and for (TrackNet Media Group) in allowing us to bring this to fruition,” Stirling said.
Certain member groups of the THG have recently put together ADW deals without the direct help of the national coalition, such as signal agreements for Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots and Tampa Bay Downs, but Stirling said the THG was kept abreast of negotiations for Calder and Gulfstream. The ADW agreement for Calder follows nine months of sometimes bitter negotiations that pitted CDI against the THG and Florida HPBA. Until it signed a Calder purse contract July 7, the Florida HPBA did not permit Calder to send its signal to racetracks outside Florida, and horsemen’s groups in several states did not permit tracks to send signals to Calder. The combination of simulcast and ADW blackouts is a major reason for this year’s decline in handle at Calder. CDI said in its third-quarter Securities and Exchange Commission report that Calder’s net pari-mutuel revenue fell from $58.8 million for the first nine months of 2007 to $44.6 million for that period this year. Calder’s decline in handle has led to a series of purse cuts and stakes cancellations. .
