PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP, MICH.—It’s a sure bet that plenty of people don’t want horseracing and parimutuel wagering to arrive in the Detroit area bedroom town of Plymouth Township, Michigan. And those people, with issues ranging from gambling, animal care, zoning, traffic, and drinking, are making a lot of noise with petitions, yard signs, posters, and handouts, as well as angry speeches at public meetings. But the township’s leadership is moving ahead with a plan that, at the very least, is a complicated one for Northville Downs, even though its planned move will encompass only a 4.7-mile jaunt from its current location.
Based in the neighboring bedroom town of Northville, Michigan, Northville Downs’s marketing slogan is “Where Winning is Everything.” Still, a number of passionate Plymouth Township residents would like to give the track a loss. “If you want to have a drink at home, go for it. There are plans for a bar there and they’re going to be pushing the alcohol. The gambling will draw people as young as 18,” Stop the Racetrack spokesman Dale Bernhardt told The Epoch Times. When asked about drinking in other parts of the town and the easy access to betting apps on a cellphone, Mr. Bernhardt said, “Just because everyone else is doing it, what is enough?”
