ALBANY -- A new report in today's Albany Times Union detailed how New York's horseracing industry has been propped up by more than $2.9 billion in state taxpayer dollars and government-directed benefits since 2008. Multiple independent experts also debunked NYRA's false claims inflating the economic impact of the horse racing industry and criticized the mismanaged agency's heavy reliance on state handouts.

The following statement can be attributed to Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal (D/WF-Manhattan), Chair of the Committee on Social Services, sponsor of the bill to end these corporate handouts and redirect the money to fund education and other services that actually benefit real New Yorkers:

"The Times Union's deeply researched analysis is a damning indictment of the horse racing industry, and it clearly demonstrates why the State must cancel $230 million in annual taxpayer-funded subsidies. To put it into context: New York’s horse racing industry gets a sweeter tax deal than the New York Yankees. The State forgoes hundreds of million of dollars each year that should be spent educating our youngest New Yorkers to prop up an industry that is rife with mismanagement and abuse. This is a wake-up call: we have an opportunity to create stable jobs, spur real economic development, and invest in educating the next generation of big thinkers by passing my legislation (A.8468) to end the most egregious handouts that are used to further enrich wealthy horse owners and take the industry off the corporate welfare rolls."