Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (2/16)
IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO HORSEMEN
Team Effort For Slots-At-Tracks
By Michael Campbell, ITHA President
This spring represents another opportunity for the entire horse racing industry to work together in an attempt to achieve our preferred goal of passing a gaming expansion bill with “slots-at-tracks,” and thereby ensure a long-term future for the Illinois horse racing and breeding industries.
For a slots-at-tracks bill to be successful, it will take a team effort by horsemen and the tracks. All of us are allies in this cause: Arlington Park, Balmoral, Fairmount Park, Hawthorne, Maywood, IHHA, ITBOF, ITHA – and even the Racing Board.
As the 2012 legislative session begins, we need your help. We urge you to visit your State Representative and State Senator and tell them: (a) the Illinois horse racing industry needs help this year to effectively compete against other horse racing states, and just to survive; (b) we need adequate purses, elimination of recapture, and live racing guarantees, which the entire industry supports as part of the slots-at-tracks proposal; and (c) slots-at-tracks allows the horse racing industry to be self-sufficient, and does not create future uncertainties associated with the annual appropriations process. Make sure your legislators understand that passing gaming legislation this year is absolutely necessary for the survival of our industry in Illinois.
The survival of our industry will enable those of us in racing and breeding to keep our jobs. It will stop the jobs from going to other states. Our livelihoods depend on this industry. Our families depend on it. We want the opportunity to be able to thrive in our own state.
State legislators will be out of session and available in their home districts during these periods:
March 12-16
April 2-13
If you do not know the names of your legislators or need their contact information please contact the ITHA.
This is a critical time for horse racing in Illinois. Let’s do all we can to convince our lawmakers that proposed gaming legislation is right for Illinois horse racing and right for the State of Illinois.
Sincerely,
Michael B. Campbell
President, Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association
Serving the Finest People We Know, The Horsemen of Illinois
