Declines in betting on horse racing more than offset gains at its card room as the parent of Canterbury Park reported a loss of nearly $1 million in 2010.
For the year ended Dec. 31, 2010, the Shakopee, Minn.-based Canterbury Park Holding Corporation reported a net loss of $992,206, or $.25 per share, compared with net income of $60,970, or $0.02 per share, in 2009.
The company reported a 9.9% increase in card casino revenues, with pari-mutuel revenues declining by 10.2%. As a result, net revenues were up slightly to $39.9 million last year, compared with $39.6 million the previous year. The company took a $909,540 write-off associated with assets disposed of during the remodeling of the card casino.
Also impacting expenses that increased 4.7% to $41.2 million in 2010 were increases in federal and state tax charges related to salaries and benefits and money spent in an effort to obtain legalized electronic gaming at the facility. Racino legislation is presently pending in the state legislature.
Randy Sampson, Canterbury Park’s president and CEO, said the card casino gains were a result of the casino makeover completed in April and led to a 7.2% increase in revenues and net income of $161,279 during the fourth quarter of the year.
“With improved results in our new card casino and the opportunity to grow our table games revenue even more, combined with our strong balance sheet, we believe we are well positioned to meet the immediate challenges of the current economic climate and to benefit from further improvements in consumer spending,” Sampson said in a statement. “We still face, however, a number of long-term challenges as we work to improve the results of our pari-mutuel operations, including declines in handle and intense competition for racehorses with tracks that are able to subsidize their purses with alternative gaming revenues.”
Saying it represents “good public policy” in addition to benefiting the company, Sampson said Canterbury would continue to “vigorously advocate for legislation that would authorize a racino at Canterbury Park. It would enhance our horse racing with increased purses, create a significant number of new jobs as well as other growth and development opportunities, and produce significant new tax revenues for state and local governments that are grappling with serious deficit issues."
Canterbury Park has scheduled its annual shareholders’ meeting for April 2 at the track.
