SAN MATEO -- Just as Golden Gate Fields and the state planned tointroduce satellite horse-race wagering in San Francisco, San MateoCounty attorneys sent them a message: Hold your horses.
An attorney for San Mateo's satellite wagering facility traveledto the San Diego area last week and persuaded regulators to delaystate permit applications for San Francisco's first two simulcastgambling sites.
Golden Gate Fields, a racetrack in Berkeley, proposed installing40- to 50-seat 'mini-satellite' simulcast betting parlors insidePete's Tavern, located across from AT&T Park, and Sotte Marerestaurant in North Beach. They have support from the CaliforniaHorse Racing Board, which can permit horse wagering inside 45 barsand restaurants across California, thanks to a new state law.
However, the same law prevents such gambling locations frompopping up within a 20-mile radius of another site. The two SanFrancisco locations are a hair less than 20 miles from the JockeyClub, a county-operated satellite horse-wagering facility thatopened in San Mateo three days after Bay Meadows racetrack closed inAugust. The Jockey Club is located at the county Event Center.
One-third of Jockey Club patrons, many of whom migrated from BayMeadows, travel from San Francisco, said Portor Goltz, deputy countycounsel who is representing the club and the Event Center. Losingthose customers to the proposed San Francisco wagering facilitieswould hurt the cash-strapped county as it pays off debt from the$5.1 million club, he said.
The state had not notified the county of the San Franciscoproposals, and local officials learned of them only after ChrisCarpenter, the Event Center's general manager, read the Horse RacingBoard's July 23 agenda. Goltz traveled more than 450 miles to theboard meeting in Del Mar, invoked the 20-mile radius statute and gotthe proposals tabled.
'Nobody said anything (before the meeting),' Goltz said. 'And,frankly, had I not been there and objected, they would have grantedthese (San Francisco facilities). I'm certain of that.'
Robert Hartman, general manager of Golden Gate Fields, said thecounty's objection limits the waning sport's ability to reach new,younger fans near downtown San Francisco. If the two sites were toperform well, they could lead to other locations in the city, hesaid.
Golden Gate Fields will try working with the county to receive awaiver, and he will contact state legislators to write a bill thatwould amend the 20-mile radius law, Hartman said. If those twoavenues fail, he said the company will be forced to try opening afacility on the outskirts of the Bay Area.
'These mini-satellites are really for the good of horse racing,'Hartman said. 'I think San Mateo County will be reasonable --they've seen a racetrack go out of business right in their backyardalready, so they know our sport is struggling.'
Golden Gate Fields was aware of the 20-mile restriction butsubmitted its application after state officials assured the companytheir proposed locations were far enough away from the Jockey Club,Hartman said.
State officials had simply looked up the distance to drivebetween the San Francisco locations and the Jockey Club usingGoogle's mapping service, said Mike Marten, spokesman for the HorseRacing Board.
But the driving directions are not in a straight line, and Goltzsaid the statute referred specifically to a 20-mile 'radius' fromthe Jockey Club, which covers all of San Francisco except a tinyarea under the Golden Gate Bridge.
Marten said the board learned of San Mateo County's objectionsfor the first time at the board meeting and was 'disappointed.' Hesaid the board hopes Golden Gate Fields can work out a solution withthe Jockey Club or through the state Legislature.
Mike Rosenberg covers San Mateo, Burlingame, Belmont andtransportation issues. Reach him at 650-348-4324.
