MEC Bailout Hinges on the Success of a Couple of Dime Superfectas

A couple of years ago, before the stock market tumbled into a septic tank, The Motley Fool published a New Year’s Resolutions column that encouraged timid investors to dabble with their own stock purchases utilizing online trading services, such as Ameritrade and Sharebuilder. The Fool intimated that the purchase of "stocks of personal interest", i.e., businesses of products/services that you routinely utilize or enjoy, would provide some sort of emotional connection and fan the flames of fiscal excitement, or something to that effect. Thinking this was a good idea at the time, I scrounged up some loose change from under the sofa cushions, opened an online account and purchased a modest amount of various "stocks of personal interest." Obviously, my "personal interest" includes horse racing, specifically horse racing at Lone Star Park.

Okay, here’s where it gets good ...

I bought MEC.

At the time, Magna stock (MECA) was trading somewhere around $7 per share. Having the financial wizardry of a bumblebee, I speculated that there was lots of room for growth and it could soon be as competitive as Churchill Downs, Inc. (CHDN) So I set my investments free into the winds of Wall Street and promptly forgot my Ameritrade password. And we all know the rest of the story:

• MEC stock drops
• MEC stock is down
• MEC borrows ridiculous sums of cash from MI Developments
• Frank Stronach holds auditions for yodeling bimbos to peddle Frank’s Energy Drink
• MEC stock drops
• MEC stock is really down
• MEC initiates a 1:20 reverse stock split
• Sue now owns 0.6697 shares of MEC
• MEC closes at $0.30 on Friday, 2/20/09

My MEC partial-share is worth a whopping 21 cents today. That’s two 10-cent superfectas.

I’m not whining about the few bucks I originally invested awhile back. Honestly, I’ve blown more money on a bad day at the track, but at least I still enjoyed a couple of frozen margaritas in the beautiful Texas sunshine during the process. But it’s the horse racing industry that’s getting gypped while Magna plays hacky sack with finances.

Lone Star Park’s opening day is April 9th. Magna operates the racetrack and owns the racing license, but it’s the city – Grand Prairie Sports Facilities Development Corp. – that owns the track. And according to Grand Prairie Mayor Charles England, the city is prepared to operate the racetrack if necessary, albeit briefly. "[Grand Prairie] can’t afford to have the track go dark," the mayor said.

Lone Star Park is the centerpiece of Grand Prairie’s entertainment district. The little parcel of land between Dallas and Fort Worth that was originally acquired in 1863 by trading a broken wagon, an ox team, and two hundred Confederate dollars, is also home to the NOKIA Theater, the AirHogs A-Rodless Professional Baseball Team, GPX Skate Park, and a couple dozen Starbucks. Clearly, Grand Prairie isn’t going to allow itself to go down with the Magna ship. Mayor England is probably planning a backyard barbecue for Halsey Minor at this very moment!

As for me, I got to go place a couple of bets.