A slots deal in Maryland appears imminent following the $18 million buyout Monday of racetrack operators Joe and Karin De Francis.
Magna Entertainment Corp. exercised its buyout of De Francis’ remaining shares of the Maryland Jockey Club that operates Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course under its initial Nov. 2002 purchase of the tracks. Racing industry and state house sources say the buyout signals a special Maryland legislative session, perhaps by early October. Joe De Francis said the buyout’s timing is merely coincidental, but admitted he’s also “anxiously” awaiting passage of slots.
A three-day special session will come only after a deal on the long-running and controversial slots bill is sealed between Gov. Martin O’Malley and Speaker of the House Michael Busch, whose anti-slots stance has softened greatly over recent months. O’Malley was threatening new and increased taxes to cover the state’s expected $1.5 billion budget shortfall next year if slots aren’t approved, but is now likely to largely seek an income tax increase.
Joe De Francis remains an MEC director, but will no longer be actively associated with the tracks purchased by his father Frank De Francis in 1984. After the elder De Francis’ sudden August 1989 death, Joe De Francis bought out partners Tom and Bob Manfuso and instituted simulcasting and off-track wagering parlors.
De Francis’ departure was believed necessary because some lawmakers saw the track owner as the prime beneficiary of several previous slot bills. De Francis withdrew from the industry’s lobbying team in recent years to help defuse opponents’ contention. It was a stark contrast to Frank De Francis, who gainedrepeated concessions from state house leaders during the 1980s revival known as the “Maryland Miracle.”
“I don’t want to be, nor should be, the issue about this — so one of the advantages of this announcement today is now I won’t be,” Joe De Francis said. “Karin and I will be gone. There’s a lot of politics about [slots] and if opponents wait to raise another red herring they’ll have to find something else besides me.”
MEC’s buyout could have waited until the agreement’s November deadline, but that would have been too late to trigger legislative action. Monday’s move enables De Francis to no longer factor in lawmakers’ decision.
The De Francis buyout comes just 12 days after the purchase of Rosecroft Raceway in Oxon Hill by Penn National Gaming, to be completed by year’s end. The harness track’s sale would place three of the state’s four racetracks expected to house several thousand slots under control by out-of-state gaming companies. Ocean Downs, a summer harness track in Berlin, Md., owned by Delaware Park, is also expected to seek slots.
Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Contact him at [email protected].
