Due to open in 2006 the $250 million complex is to be one of North America’s most advanced race tracks ever created. Indeed the track is designed more as a TV studio than with the attendance of people in mind. However Magna also intends a 1.2 million square feet off-track Las Vegas style resort to attract families with the likes of cinemas, restaurants and hotels.

Dixon Downs, the small farm town where all this development is due to take place is already looking towards the radical change Magna are to bring. The town has started to plan for horse stalls, a dormitory for stable tenders and even a 5,000-seat centre showing all North American horse racing broadcasts.

In five years Magna has risen to become the dominating name in horse racing in North America. Now that 85 percent of punters gamble off track the company plan to use I-gaming to attract a global audience. Jim McAlpine, Magna CEO explains how they plan to: “…become a major owner of racing content, live racing, which you get by owning race tracks,'' then to reach, “as many customers at home, in sports bars and hotels as we can.”

PORTLAND - An Oregon student's study concludes what critics of state-run lotteries have contended for years: The cheap chance at a dream plays to the uneducated and poor who can least afford to lose.
Peter Balducci's bachelor's degree thesis was published in the Northwest Journal of Business and Economics.