COSTA MESA : Off-Track Betting at Fairgrounds a Loser
Plans for off-track betting at the Orange County Fairgrounds suffered a setback this week when the Costa Mesa City Council voted 3 to 2 to oppose it.
“I think it’s about time we said, ‘Enough is enough!’ ” Councilwoman Sandra L. Genis said.
The facility could draw an average of 3,000 people and gross $600,000 daily, said Norbert Bartosik, general manager of the Orange County Fair and Exposition Center.
The council’s action has no legally binding effect and cannot in itself derail the bill, authored by Assemblyman Gil Ferguson. But Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) said he will delay the legislation because of the vote.
The bill is scheduled for an April 18 hearing before the Assembly’s Governmental Organization Committee. The bill would need to go to the full Assembly by April 27 to have any chance of being passed into law this year, said Cathy Pirie, a legislative aide to Ferguson.
Off-track betting was legalized in Southern California in 1987. Thirteen off-track betting facilities are operating in the Southland.
City officials and members of the state Fair Board are scheduled to meet April 11. Bartosik said an environmental impact report, requested by council members, is under way.
Council members Mary Hornbuckle and Ed Glasgow also voted to oppose it.
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