A little-known taxpayer-funded public trough called the Pennsylvania Race Horse Development Fund (PRHDF) provides $240 million every year in government subsidies to wealthy horse racing enthusiasts and hobbyists.

Since the fund’s inception in 2004, more than three billion of Pennsylvanians’ hard-earned tax dollars have been used to enrich a small number of wealthy race horse owners and hobbyists—many of whom do not live in Pennsylvania.

The system is rife with conflicts of interest and self-dealing. The industry regulatory body, the State Racing Commission, is run by the horsemen – the very beneficiaries of millions of dollars in state subsidies. The breeding funds operate with little public oversight or accountability to taxpayers.

Meanwhile, grossly inadequate and inequitable state funding for education in Pennsylvania has left students in profoundly underfunded school districts without even the most basic resources that they need to succeed. And every year, school boards are forced to raise property taxes because state funding comes up short.

The COVID-19 economic downturn has created an enormous hole in the state budget. Lawmakers will be faced with decisions about how to fund programs that will take care of people and move the Commonwealth forward, all while facing enormous revenue shortfalls. Make no mistake, funding for public education will be on the chopping block in Harrisburg next year.

Pennsylvanians cannot afford to continue bankrolling the sport of kings.

Click HERE to tell your state lawmakers to fund kids over horse racing.

The last thing state lawmakers should support is spending millions of public dollars subsidizing a luxury industry.

Please contact your state lawmakers and ask them to eliminate the Race Horse Development Fund and direct more than $200 million in taxpayer money into the General Fund budget to invest in supporting Pennsylvania’s public school students.

Education Voters of PA has written the first and only report that details how the Race Horse Development Fund awards Pennsylvanians’ hard-earned tax dollars as cash prizes to wealthy horse owners with minimal transparency and very little economic benefit to the state. For more information visit www.kidsoverhorseracing.org.

And this system incentivizes the brutal treatment of horses by their owners. The American track that recorded the most deaths (59) in 2019 was Parx in Bucks County. Taken as a whole, Pennsylvania racetracks average over 100 dead horses annually. Nationally, that figure is over 2,000. But that’s just on-track: Each year, multiple thousands more are brutally and violently slaughtered when deemed no longer profitable.

The commonwealth must look ahead. The best investment we can make is in Pennsylvania’s future – by supporting public education and providing a solid foundation for students. That is the winning bet.

Please contact your state lawmakers today and tell them to fund kids over horse racing. After more than $3 billion in public subsidies, it is time for Pennsylvania taxpayers to stop filling the the horse racing industry’s trough.

Best,

Susan Spicka, Executive Director, Education Voters of PA

PS: For a quick read about the PRHDF, check out our one-pager.