Magna Entertainment Corp. (“MEC”), based out of Canada, has grown to be the largest racetrack owner in North America. Although it has reached this stature it has not become immune to decreasing economy and the woes faced by many casino owners.
Recently this simulcast race track owner and operator has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In order to protect themselves they are also withdrawing from their shares being traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange in New York.
Currently an MEC owns and manages seven thoroughbred racetracks. They include Santa Anita Park, Gulfstream Park, Pimlico Race Course, Laurel Park, Golden Gate Fields, Thistledown, and Portland Meadows. Complete the 10 venues they also own to racetracks which run thoroughbred and standardbred meets. These are the Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie and Remington Park. Lastly, they have one standardbred harness racing track: the Meadows.
Aside from these venues are also offer one of the largest simulcast wagering venues, as well as three casinos operated within three of the racetracks.
Magna also has a large off-track betting facility as well its own wagering business XpressBet™. This system allows customers to place phone bets in online bets throughout the 100 North American racetracks, and the world. To reach expands throughout the world including Australia, South Africa and Dubai. With the growing European market, have also created a wagering account called Magnabet™. By expanding throughout the world this has made them one of the largest owner operators for horse racing.
Although these ventures have created an all encompassing system for magna, they still have suffered the last several years as they can continue to slide further into debt. Currently magna is in debt over $250 million to their parent company MI Development and has recently established that it has increased its losses from $7.7 million to over one $116 million just within the first three quarters of last year.
Tags: betting, casino, gambling, horse racing, online
