Pa. needs to stop subsidizing horse racing and put that money toward transit

Pennsylvania has spent over $3 billion in the past decade propping up the horse racing industry — a dying and increasingly irrelevant pastime — all while forcing public transit systems across the state to make massive cuts and service reductions. If that sounds outrageous to you, that’s because it is.

Every year, more than $200 million from casino slot machine revenue is diverted into the Race Horse Development Fund.

That’s $200 million a year in tax revenue that doesn’t go toward roads, schools, or services that working Pennsylvanians rely on. Instead, it goes toward subsidizing an expensive hobby for wealthy horse owners and breeders, many of whom live out of state.

Meanwhile, public transit agencies in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and small towns across the commonwealth are facing drastic service cuts, fare increases, and layoffs due to chronic underfunding.

The contrast is as absurd as it is indefensible.

Public transit is a public good that directly benefits the state economy and its residents. It’s how millions of Pennsylvanians get to work, get to medical appointments, get to grocery stores and school. It connects our communities, boosts our economy, and reduces emissions, which pollute our air and water.

And yet, when these systems plead for sustainable funding from Harrisburg, they’re told by conservative senators that there are not enough resources to go around.

Apparently, we can’t afford to keep reliable buses and trains running in the state, but we can afford to keep the horse racing industry on life support.

Why are we doing this?

Interest in horse racing has declined in recent decades. Attendance and betting are down across the board, and some tracks have closed, even with the subsidies. Concerns about animal cruelty have also damaged its public image.

There is no moral, economic, or practical justification for continuing to sustain this pastime with public subsidies.

The current horse racing fund is a legacy from a compromise made in the legislature during the gambling expansion legalization that allowed casinos to open in the state. But the commonwealth’s public needs are not the same now as they were then.

It is not a question of fiscal constraint; it’s a question of values and the smart investment of public money. What kind of state chooses horses over human beings?

What message are we sending when we lavish billions on an industry that benefits the wealthy few, while telling millions of the commonwealth’s transit riders — many of whom are low-income, disabled, elderly, or essential workers — to fend for themselves?

As Pennsylvanians, we deserve better. The Race Horse Development Fund should be phased out, and that money reinvested in public transit, infrastructure, and services that actually serve the common good.

Alexander Milone is the transit committee cochair of 5th Square Advocacy, an urbanist political action committee.