Saratoga Raceway Gambling With Success

Chris Read has no problem with Saratoga Raceway's plans to install 1,500 new video lottery terminals by New Year's Eve. Any kind of gambling is good with me," said the 24-year-old bartender from Albany who was at Saratoga Race Course Monday. "How many people come to watch the horses? Putting money down is all the excitement."


Saratoga Raceway, the harness track on Nelson Avenue, will begin work Monday on a $10 million renovation project to make room for the slot-like electronic gaming machines.


In a recent landmark ruling, state Supreme Court Justice Joseph Teresi upheld legislation authorizing VLTs at horseracing tracks and six new Indian-run casinos to be located in the Catskills and Western New York.


Many at Saratoga Race Course Monday afternoon said they support Teresi's decision to vastly increase gambling options throughout the state, particularly with regard to having VLTs at the harness track. "Why not?" said Don Ridler, 69, of Goshen, Ind., who was sitting on a bench in the picnic area puffing on a Macanudo, his favorite type of cigar. "How's it going to tear down the neighborhood? There's already horseracing there."


Ridler, who was in town on business, said slot machines could have saved the Detroit Race Course. He was crushed to see the venue and its grandstand demolished several years ago, only to be replaced by a shopping center. "Maybe they call that progress - I don't," he said. "But then again, I gamble. I'm looking for trouble, I guess."


The New York Racing Association, which operates the Saratoga track and the downstate Belmont and Aqueduct tracks, will spend more than $100 million to install 4,500 VLTs at Aqueduct - NYRA's only site authorized in the legislation, said Bill Nader, senior vice president for NYRA.


That was good news to Read's friend, Rich Pugsley, 25, of Albany, and others who say the presence of VLTs would tarnish the image of the historic venue in Saratoga. "This is one of the most prestigious tracks in the world," Pugsley said. Henry DeMartino, 79, of Troy, was at the race course with his wife Marilyn. He said VLTs would attract a low-income crowd, crime and other problems associated with larger gambling outlets in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.


"I don't think it's the answer to fill the state coffers," he said.


DeMartino also said the move to legalize VLTs will open the door for craps, roulette and poker tables. Anti-casino activists, led by Joe Dalton, president of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce and the Rev. Jay Ekman of the Presbyterian-New England Congregational Church on Circular Street, fought the legislation, saying it violated gambling provisions in the Constitution.


Still others, including a local restaurant owner, are excited about more business and not having to travel far for a nighttime gambling experience. "Customers come to eat at my place, but they still want to go gamble at the track and catch the last few races," said Luisa Cirelli, owner of Luisa's Italian Bistro on Route 9 in South Glens Falls. "If somebody wants to go out for the night and gamble, I don't see it as bad. At least it'll keep the money around here."