By Cliff Williams, ContributorWITH State Minister in the Finance Ministry, the Hon. Fitz Jackson, just back from a fact-finding mission overseas he certainly lost very little time in inviting members of the racing press to a luncheon briefing in the Marcus Garvey room at the Jamaica Pegasus last Friday.
The State Minister impressed in his presentation and demonstrated in no uncertain terms the speed with which he has acquired a grasp of the magnitude of the task he has been assigned by the political administration of which he is a key member.
The man charged with the responsibility for the development of the industry going forward included in his delegation Rudolph Muir, Chairman of the Jamaica Racing Commission and head of the Board of Directors of Caymanas Track Ltd. (CTL) William Chin See.
From the reports it was a highly successful mission. Indeed the principals of the two tracks visited, major ones in California and Florida in the United States, were extremely co-operative and may even feel flattered that the Jamaican authorities found the models there worthy of possible emulation.
It was very important, as far as I am concerned, that the State Minister, not encumbered by being racing man and therefore without the benefit of prior in-depth knowledge, to take a look for himself so he can make some sort of independent assessment based on his own intelligent observations. This should help his presentation to the Cabinet in no small measure. I suppose the issue now whether or not the advice he will be relying upon can assist in delivering and meeting the expectation of industry players in the modern racing era.
In my view, the recently formed Horsemen's Association and the CTL Board have prepared separate but almost completely compatible ideas and solutions in their documents presented to government recently on the need for urgent solutions to the mountain of difficult problems plaguing the industry. It is therefore hardly likely that State Minister Jackson will be in doubt as to what policies to implement in pursuance of the objective of full modernisation of the industry.
Perhaps the concept of "less means more", which saw former CTL Board Chairman Danny Melville carrying out a crusade of sorts to convince the Cabinet that the high taxation level of the betting dollar has to be counter-productive and cannot enhance the viability of industry, had gained no traction with the political directorate but this minister will in all probability get the attention of his colleagues.
There can be no question that in the racing jurisdictions where there is a policy of enlightened taxation with more being returned to the punter the Sport of Kings has a much better chance of achieving and maintaining viability. If it works everywhere else then it should be no different in Jamaica.
Many track owners overseas have now gone for the new concept of operating their facilities as entertainment complexes as the proliferation of Off-Track-Betting stations as well as Internet betting which allow many punters to enjoy the thrill of betting without being part of a live race track audience. One is not sure how this could be done successfully at Caymanas Park given the culture and the general perception that gaming is the only activity that will ever take place there. Be that as it may this may be something worth exploring.
On the matter of funding for development the State Minister is acutely aware of the constraints as a limiting factor. Importantly for the local racing industry at this time Messrs Jackson, Muir and Chin See seem to be bringing a new approach to this vision of modernisation as their eyes are fresh and they cannot have any other agenda than to see to the full development of the Sport of Kings. More on this in future columns.
