Racinos Don’t Save Racing

These are the empty stands at Suffolk Downs --

Horse racing is DEAD!


From our friends at Stop Predatory Gambling --

Racinos Don’t Save Racing

http://stoppredatorygambling.org/category/research-center/racinos-fail-to-save-live-racing/

You can find more information about how slot machines have not revived public interest in racing by also visiting “Save the Racetracks” in our Blog section.
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Slot Machines Largely Responsible for Racing’s Continuing Decline

The long-term trends show the ontrack handle at racino racetracks has declined, a direct result of putting slot machines and table games in the building. Says one racing official quoted in the article below: “The racing industry has far more competition now, and a lot of it is right at the racetrack’s doorstep.”
Is Racing a Sport on the Ropes
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Money From Slots Has Done Nothing to Improve Horse Racing

This Washington Post story spotlights how slot money has been used to simply prop up tracks that have virtually no fan base and couldn’t exist on their on merits. When slots were legalized, the machines proved to be so lucrative many track owners lost interest in the sport and viewed it as a nuisance. They made no effort to improve the game or attract new fans; slot players are more profitable customers.

While the money has benefited owners, trainers and breeders, it has done nothing to popularize or improve horse racing. On the contrary, it has hurt the sport in some ways. At a time when almost every track is suffering from a shortage of thoroughbreds, the horses who go to slot-subsidized tracks could be running at viable tracks, helping them to offer a better product, instead of racing in a place where almost nobody watches them.
2012 Money from slots has done nothing to improve horse racing
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Predatory Gambling Trade Preys on Horse Racing Industry

In this May 2011 story from NPR, a spokesman from Penn National Gaming suggests that for the horse racing industry to flourish, slot machines must be involved. He states: “The long term viability of racing – not just in Maryland, but everywhere across the country – is largely dependent on the eventual introduction of slot machines.”
Horse Racing Gets Squeezed By Gambling’s Spread
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West Virginia Legislature Votes to Fund State’s Racinos

In March 2011, West Virginia’s State Legislature voted on a bill that will use $10 million dollars from an existing lottery to fund the state’s racinos for 10 years. Del. Mitch Carmichael, of Jackson, called the bill “the most ‘ridiculous’ he’s seen in several years.”
“Why should we single out a particular industry, the gaming industry and the Greenbrier Hotel, to give them special $10 million giveaways from the people of West Virginia,” Carmichael asked. “I just think it sets the wrong priorities.”
West Virginia Legislature Votes to Fund Racinos with Public Money
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Why Far Fewer Bettors Pony Up on the Horses

This Las Vegas Sun article offers some insights as to why horse racing events are “going the way of Latin.” It describes how horse racing revenue has declined 30 percent at Nevada casinos in the past decade even as other forms of gambling, after taking a hit in the recession, have increased over that period.
2011 Why Far Fewer Bettors Pony Up on the Horses
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Horse Racing Remains a Dying Pastime

There has been many reports in recent years regarding the decline in the horse racing industry. In August 2011, the Associated Press released another story stating that there was “a generally unfavorable public view of racing, a long and frustrating learning curve for new bettors and increased competition from casinos and other forms of gambling as central to the sport’s decline.”
Report Finds Horse Racing Is On a Slippery Track
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Slots and Safety at New Mexico Tracks

One of the first states to approve slot machine gambling at horse tracks, New Mexico now has been tagged with the worst safety record in racing. Nationwide, the newspaper found the industry “still mired in a culture of drugs and lax regulation and a fatal breakdown rate that remains far worse than in most of the world.” In addition, slots are now the tail that wag the horse, accounting for most of the revenue at tracks and turning racing into a side business, and perhaps the biggest reason for safety plummeting.
Slots and Safety at New Mexico Tracks