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Originally Posted by philcski
I admire Frank's passion. Seriously. He really does love the game, and misguided or not puts a TON of money into it. With all of the negative talk of Florida/Maryland, people have overlooked his one true "startup", Lone Star, which is a TREMENDOUS facility. Also, I've been to a lot of stud farms and I find Adena to be the best run facility, with a great mix of top notch stallions and more affordable types as well.
That said, DeFrancis' claim that his help is to blame for the misappropriation of funds by MEC is significantly off base. Even from the periphery it's clear the guy has only one opinion that matters (his own)- you could have a panel of the greatest minds in the game and he'd still be convinced the way to make money is cross market some crappy energy drink with girls dressed up in lederhosen. Regardless of everyone's feelings about the new GP, there's tons of potential there- for example, the poker room there is terribly underused and undermarketed, it's a great space and down the road there's high limit games full ALL THE TIME. Poker is risk free and high margin, and would require ZERO additional capital investment. The slot parlor, while I feel South Florida is already oversaturated with slot-style gaming, has improved and really cries out for a Las Vegas veteran marketer to lead the way (which he's done). In Maryland they were behind the eight ball from the beginning paying a 100% premium for two aging facilities with little or no growth potential, and honestly slots won't magically change that. Alternative gaming has been in place too long in neighboring states and being last to the table leaves them the scraps.
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LoneStar had racing about 10yrs before MEC got it. Since they took over the track has lost Cory Johnson and the racing has gone downhill quickly also.
If you look back since MEC more 4K claiming races have started filling the cards and even Steve Assmussen has been keeping his better horses away except for the stakes. LoneStar at one point was on its way to being a top track, now it can't even compete w/ Delta Downs,Sunland,Evangeline Downs in daily purses. The TB season is getting shorter also. From BC host to 4K claiming races, not a step forward IMO..