VLT

A money disagreement that has simmered for nearly a decade got a step closer to settlement Thursday when a federal judge ruled the Ohio Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (OHBPA) is entitled to $2,769,652 in gaming revenues that the present and former owners of Belterra Park withheld between 2014 and 2018. The dispute arose from Belterra's failure to pay the OHBPA its share of net-win video lottery terminal (VLT) commission from Belterra Park. The quarrel was exacerbated when the two sides disagreed over the rate that was supposed to be...

The 2023 push to secure bond funding for a new Belmont Park officially kicked off on a gray, chilly November morning with a press conference at the out-of-session New York State Capitol in Albany on Thursday. The unveiling of the legislative agenda for next year was hosted by the "We Are NY Horse Racing" coalition of small businesses, labor unions, non-profits, and trade associations. While the scope of the years-in-the-planning project was largely framed in general terms as being able to bring state-wide economic benefits at no cost to taxpayers,...

Backed by a number of animal rights groups, two New York state lawmakers have introduced a bill that would end payments made to the state's racing and breeding industries from slot machine or video lottery terminal (VLT) revenue. According to a press release issued Wednesday by the animal rights group NYCLASS, the bill would cancel out the $230-million payment made annually to horse racing and breeding and will redirect the money to "help New York's taxpayers, schools, workers and other social programs." NYCLASS has led the effort to ban carriage...

The Ohio Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (OHBPA) told a federal judge Mar. 23 that the present and former owners of Belterra Park are attempting to get out from under a $2.7-million lawsuit over gaming revenues that the track allegedly wrongfully withheld between 2014 and 2018 on the grounds that Ohio's statutory construct for racino revenue sharing offers horsemen no legal remedy when they are denied their fair share. But in fact, the OHBPA states in a memorandum opposing Belterra's motion to dismiss the case, both common law and the...

The present and former owners of Belterra Park have filed a motion to toss out a federal lawsuit filed by the Ohio Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (OHBPA) that seeks to recoup more than $2.7 in gaming revenues that the OHBPA alleges the track wrongfully withheld between 2014 and 2018. According to a motion to dismiss filed Feb. 16 in United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Eastern Division), the defendants are alleging that "OHBPA has failed to state any viable claims against Defendants. OHBPA's cleverly labeled...

The Ohio Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (OHBPA) filed a federal lawsuit against Belterra Park's present and former owners Dec. 18 seeking more than $2.7 in gaming revenues that the OHBPA is claiming the track wrongfully withheld between 2014 and 2018. "This action arises from Defendants' failure to pay the OHBPA its share of net-win video lottery terminal [VLT] commission from Belterra Park," states the complaint filed Friday morning in United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Eastern Division). "The OHBPA has been deprived of these funds,...