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GROWING PROSPERITY OF RACING IN EMPIRE STATE t . # Figures for Early Meetings Indicate Sport Is Thriving Under New Laws « Attendance Is Nearly Doubled — Great Increase in Receipts and Purses — Large Revenue for the State — Public Support Steady NEW YORK, N. Y., July 24.— The immediate results in the reformation of New York racing have been the increases in attendances, gate money, taxes payable to the state and purse money. The figures of the spring and. summer meetings at Jamaica, Belmont Park and Aqueduct showed an increase in attendance that has nearly doubled, and an increase in receipts that has much more than doubled, and a revenue to the state, already, of 29,629.59. Last year, and during all the years when open betting was unlawful, the state received no revenue at all. The returns reflect, furthermore, and as no other barom- | eter can, both that the public was ready to rally to racing and that its support is certain to be continuous. There have been no variations in general attendance; no days when only the "regulars" appeared. The increase in public patronage began with the seasons inauguration at Jamaica, and has continued with the steadiness of a good horse down the stretch. A grand total of 413,962 people went to Jamaica, Belmont and Aqueduct this spring and summer, as against a corresponding attendance of only 212,085 at the same meetings last year. The three race courses have had total receipts of ,292,327.68, as against a total of 03,174.36 for their early meetings in 1933. And they paid out 50,280 in purses this year, compared with 13,850 in the spring and summer of 1933. And, to say it again, they paid the state 29,629.59 in taxes. The consistent steadiness of public support appears even more in the figures of the separate race tracks than in the grand totals, and makes its own answer to those pessimists who forecast that racing would have "a few big days at the start"; that the public wag too poor to go to the tracks, and that the public had become addicted to other and cheaper recreations during the dark days of racing and would never return in the mass numbers of the good old days. Let us look at the figures a moment. Belmont Park, as might have been expected, had the largest attendance and distributed the most money in purses. A total of 184,414 people attended, of whom 156,608 paid at the gate. The receipts from all sources were 32,068.28, and the paid-out purse money 89,995. The state received taxes of 2,256.71. Last year for its same meeting the course attracted a total of 83,343 persons, of whom 67,314 paid. Its gross receipts were 90-537.46, and it distributed 55,150 in purses. Continued on twenty-sixth page. GROWING PROSPERITY OF RACING IN EMPIRE STATE Continued from ftrsf page. J It paid no tax, which was its single consolation for the year. For. maintaining the standard and spirit of sport which has always been distinctive of that race course, it ! paid out more in purses than it took in from I I all sources, the difference, or clear loss, of j 4,653 being contributed by the stockholders. Jamaica this spring attracted an attendance of 120,102, of which 108,076 paid. Its entire receipts were 79,532 and its purse distribution 20,475. It paid the state a tax of 7,890.18. At its spring meeting of 1933, its attendance was only 60,236, of which 48,986 paid and its purse distribution, 7,800. Aqueduct, at its first meeting this year, drew 109,446 to its gates, 93,135 of them paying. Its gross income was 80,709.60 and it paid 39,850 in purses. It paid state taxes of 9,482.70. A year ago, at its summer meeting, it had an attendance of only 68.508, of which 12,881 was complimentary, took in 59,483.50 from all sources and distributed 0,900 in purses. To reiterate: The state got nothing from racing in 1933. There is another phase of the returns, which is important and of which only a single example need be given. At its spring meeting of 1933, out of its total distribution in stake and purse money, Belmont Park paid out only 3,300 in added money to overnight purses. This spring, it divided 13,075, or not quite 0,000 more. This figure means just as much to the general public, as it means to horsemen. It signifies that as time goes on and under the new * dispensation, the best horses will be more and more encouraged to race in New York. And that means to the general public that — more and more and day by day— it will not only see great sport, but be given the finest run in the world for its money. • ,
