Horse racing in New York has been propped up by more than $2.9 billion in state taxpayer dollars and government-directed benefits since 2008, a Times Union investigation has uncovered.
Reporter Emilie Munson spent six months investigating the poorly performing industry, finding that it would not exist without massive subsidies by taxpayers, who are offsetting its losses to the tune of millions per year.
Good Jobs First Executive Director Greg LeRoy told Munson many industries get subsidies to kick-start their businesses as they get off the ground. But horse racing is an old enterprise.
“When you look at the deep subsidization of multiple forms of taxation (for horse racing), it says propping up,” LeRoy told Munson. “It says deep entrenched corporate interests.”
Read the full story at the Times Union.