Feb 5, 2021 4 min read

It is Groundhog Day.

Not really. But the yearly battle between the state’s Equine coalition and Gov. Tom Wolf’s yearly quest to pull from the Pennsylvania Race Horse Development Fund in his proposed budget is happening again.

Wolf’s budget for 2021 includes taking $199 million from the (PRHDF), down from the $204 million he pushed for last year.

The Democratic governor is earmarking that $199 million to fund what is now known as the Nellie Bly Tuition Program.

The proposal remains essentially the same as a year ago, with money earmarked for students at 14 state universities with the collective name Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education.

In 2020, Wolf had little legislative support and the proposal faded away with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The PRHDF provides purses for races at the following state tracks and off-track betting parlors: Parx Casino, Presque Isle Downs & Casino, Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course, The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, The Meadows Racetrack and Casino and Harrah’s Philadelphia Racetrack and Casino.

Without it?

“Horse racing in Pennsylvania would die,” said Kim Hankins, executive director of the Meadows Standardbred Owners Association.

The race industry and many Republican lawmakers contend these funds are not tax dollars. They say it’s a fund that comes straight from the casinos. Fifteen community fairs throughout all of Pennsylvania rely on horse racing to bring in funds to keep their fairs going. It is an agricultural issue as well.

“The Pennsylvania Equine Coalition understands this action would result in the end of horse racing in Pennsylvania,” Diana Irey Vaughan, chairman of the Washington County Commissioners, said Friday. “Agriculture and many other industries, mills, farms, horse trainers, groomers, drivers and jockeys will all be impacted by the advancement of this initiative by the governor.”

“This is a huge problem,” said State Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Carroll Township. “The word trust is in there for a reason. It’s not supposed to be pilfered. The race industry provides $1.6 billion annual economic success.

“You can’t expect to take the seeds, throw them away and reap a harvest. It’s disingenuous. This will obliterate the industry. Anyone with any economic sense understands that. This makes zero economic sense.”

The PRHDF was established in 2004 to give more funding to horsemen’s organizations and purses in order to offset the possible drop in racing wagers because of the arrival of slots in the state. All casinos must pay the assessment with proceeds divided as follows:

• 80% for increasing purses.
• 16% for breeding funds.
• 4% to fund health and pension benefits for members of the horsemen’s organizations.

Horsemen and others say the fund is restricted. Horsemen also point to the 20,000 jobs, direct and ancillary, created by racing in the state.

“I think the biggest thing we are facing is a continual problem and that is the attempted attack on the racehorse development trust fund,” Hankins said. “Every year we go back and fight any attempts to take from our fund.”

In 2016, because of decreased pari-mutuel wagering, the State Racing Commission, which regulates horse racing and does drug testing, was in dire straits. Gov. Wolf negotiated funding, and he signed House Bill 941, which provided significant reforms to the racing industry.

About 10% of slot revenue goes to the PRHDF.

Wolf faces a Republican-controlled legislature. The deadline for Pennsylvania to pass its annual budget is July 1.

The horse racing industry and horsemen say the fund was formed to help them to survive. They are steadfast that if Wolf takes that money, then it will be the end of horse racing in Pennsylvania.

Hankins has said The Meadows has 700 horses on its grounds that would be gone if the governor is successful in raiding the fund. Horsemen would have to take their horses to other states.

“There does not seem to be support in the general assembly,” Irey Vaughn said. “However well-intentioned he may be, the governor, in some areas, has a misunderstanding of the administrative authority he has in his position.”

Said Bartolotta: “We need to control the cost of higher education but not kill off an entire industry in the process.”