It’s time for Maine to rein in support for harness racing | Opinion

Robert Fisk Jr., a former state legislator from Falmouth, is founder and executive director
of Maine Friends of Animals.

The state of Maine’s continued subsidization of the harness racing industry deserves
renewed scrutiny on fiscal grounds, as its continuance makes less and less sense.

The following is the case for reallocating this funding toward higher-return uses of taxpayer and cascade fund dollars:

• Cascade funds, generated by revenue from slot machines, are distributed to a
  variety of worthy Maine programs, including Fund for a Healthy Maine, Department of Education K-12, USM and Community College System Scholarship funds, Maine
  Maritime Academy and tax relief. Its largest allocation, by far, however, is the
  combination of five line items associated with the harness racing industry — funding that could otherwise expand support for these other programs.
• Maine harness racing has experienced declining revenues and attendance for over
  three decades, alongside aging facilities and increased competition from casinos and
  online gambling. As participation and market relevance have fallen, the state’s level
  of financial support has not been adjusted to reflect that trend, raising questions
  about the return taxpayers are getting on this investment.
• From 2005–2015, the Fund to Encourage Racing at Maine’s Commercial Tracks,
  Agricultural Fair Support Fund, Harness Racing Commission and Purses, Sire Stakes
  (breeding) and Fund to Stabilize Off-Track Betting were subsidized by the state
  through cascade funding at $112 million, or roughly $9.3 million per year. From
  2016-2024, the total was $96,227,822, or about $12 million a year — an increase in
  annual subsidy even as the industry’s own revenues continued to decline.
• The Legislature failed to implement a requirement for the industry to report on how the money is spent when the fund was established or any time subsequently. The Maine Harness Racing Commission holds the dual role of both regulating horse racing and promoting racing and racehorse breeding, which limits the separation typically expected between a regulator and the industry it oversees — a structure that makes independent fiscal accountability more difficult to ensure.
• These financial pressures are not new: the live handle (total amount wagered) fell over 30%, from $45.2 million in 1987 to $29.8 million in 1991. Off-track betting was
  introduced as a response, but the underlying Maine product has not recovered. Of
  the $10.8 million in total wagering handle that flowed through Maine’s harness racing and off-track betting system in 2025, only about $1.4 million — roughly 13% — was wagered on live races actually run in Maine. The remainder was bet on races run in other states and simulcast into Maine facilities, meaning the large majority of the activity this subsidy supports is not sustaining Maine’s own racing product at all.
• This industry is a business, not a charity. What business model would continue to lose millions year after year and not change? A business that cannot escape its outdated model should not be expected to needlessly drain taxpayers’ dollars. The costs of food, supplements, veterinary care, wages, advertising, constant fines, trainers, stable boarding and transportation means the die was cast years ago.
• Despite receiving well over $1 million apiece in direct state subsidy in 2025, both of Maine’s commercial harness tracks, Bangor Raceway and First Tracks in Cumberland, operated at a loss year. The subsidy is not moving these facilities toward self-sufficiency; it is offsetting losses that recur year after year with no end in sight.

If you think enough is enough, contact your legislator and ask them to sponsor legislation to end this continued waste of taxpayer dollars on an activity that is outdated, drastically faded in popularity and has no way back. At what point does an indefinite subsidy for a shrinking industry stop being justifiable. Whether it is just the fiscally responsible thing to do or it is prudent to use those funds for more worthy programs, this long irresponsible misdirection of state funds needs to finally end.

Copy the Story Link

Tagged: columns