Fewer horse racing tracks to bet on this summer

With the closure of Golden Gate Fields last year, the board in charge of races at northern California's county fairs announced that the last two - Sonoma (Santa Rosa) and Alameda (Pleasanton) - will not hold races this year. As a result, the stables in Pleasanton have been closed, resulting in a scramble to move the horses to somewhere where there's still racing, most likely Seattle or southern California (Del Mar, Santa Anita, Los Alamitos).

It wasn't that long ago that there were five tracks in northern California:
Bay Meadows (closed after 2008, as it is on the northern edge of Silicon Valley and the land was just too valuable not to develop)
Vallejo (Solano county fairgrounds - closed after 2009, although the nine-hole golf course in its infield was kept open for over a decade after that)
Golden Gate Fields (closed last year - another case of the land being worth more to developers)
Santa Rosa
Pleasanton
To be fair, except for Bay Meadows and Golden Gate Fields, each track ran for only two weeks out of the year.

Horse racing used to be the only legal sport being action. Now, it is just one of dozens of options. I's a shame because an afternoon at a beautiful track like Belmont is a lovely way to spend an afternoon. Siting around a sports book or OTB parlor is no the same.

Horse racing used to be the only legal sport being action. Now, it is just one of dozens of options. I's a shame because an afternoon at a beautiful track like Belmont is a lovely way to spend an afternoon. Siting around a sports book or OTB parlor is no the same.

Aqueuduct is expected to close permanently next year.

Resorts World has plans for a $5 billion expansion on the site.

Quote: Tanko

Aqueuduct is expected to close permanently next year.

Resorts World has plans for a $5 billion expansion on the site.


link to original post

Why is it closing?
Thought the excuse for building resorts world was to subsidize the race track and keep it afloat?
Without the race track, how can the casino still legally exist?

Quote: 100xOdds

Quote: Tanko

Aqueuduct is expected to close permanently next year.

Resorts World has plans for a $5 billion expansion on the site.


link to original post

Why is it closing?
Thought the excuse for building resorts world was to subsidize the race track and keep it afloat?
Without the race track, how can the casino still legally exist?
link to original post

That story? That was just to sell the old people who remember horse tracks as part of the culture on casinos. Now such people can be safely ignored.

It was never about anything but getting as many slot machines in there as quickly as they could.

Quote: 100xOdds

Quote: Tanko

Aqueuduct is expected to close permanently next year.

Resorts World has plans for a $5 billion expansion on the site.


link to original post

Why is it closing?
Thought the excuse for building resorts world was to subsidize the race track and keep it afloat?
Without the race track, how can the casino still legally exist?
link to original post

Agreed with AutomaticMonkey above

However they are separate business entities with Resorts World feeding into a fund to keep them going. They already were hemorrhaging cash

If they still can't be fiscally feasible then they should close. Resorts World meanwhile has a separate contract with NYS which certainly doesn't dissolve after all the infrastructure put in just cause the racetrack can't hack it

Quote: 100xOdds

Quote: Tanko

Aqueuduct is expected to close permanently next year.

Resorts World has plans for a $5 billion expansion on the site.

<snipped pic of artist's marketing vision>

link to original post

Why is it closing?
Thought the excuse for building resorts world was to subsidize the race track and keep it afloat?
Without the race track, how can the casino still legally exist?
link to original post

Scruffy Aqueduct will be closing because of the expansion of NY racing currently underwauy at the classier track at Belmont Park, which is about 2/3 of the way through undergoing a massive upgrade & renovation project that will result in taking over all the race dates formerly run at Aqueduct during the much less desireable winter months, when the $500 million project to accomodate expanded year round Belmont racing is complete in 2026. But the "rendering" of "plans" by Resorts World to market their "proposal" is... amusing, and perhaps some part of that might actually occur. From the PR piece in the link above, the final sentence & paragraph::

Quote:

Resorts World New York City is one of several sites across New York City competing to win one of three downstate casino gaming licenses authorized by state officials last April.

Good luck to them with their proposal. But those involved in racing won't care; they are all happily looking forward to keeping their tack at Belmont, interupted only by a vacation to Saratoga, without having to endure several months of hell frozen over at AQU..

The expansion is contingent upon RW winning a bid for one of the three downstate casino licenses.

Quote: billryan

Horse racing used to be the only legal sport being action. Now, it is just one of dozens of options. I's a shame because an afternoon at a beautiful track like Belmont is a lovely way to spend an afternoon. Siting around a sports book or OTB parlor is no the same.
link to original post

Growing up in the 50's there were only two legal forms of legal betting The race track or Church Bingo.

My father took me to the track all the time. The parking lot was huge and always filled. They actually had one of those electronic golf cart trams to get you from the parking lot to the front gate.

I always make it a point to go on opening day.

"And they're off."

It's one of Queens's most extensive tracts of developable land, as most of the property is underused parking lots. Large swathes of it have already been sold off. Where the Aqueduct Flea Market once was held is now a Home Depot, and having duplicate barn space available a few miles away from each other makes no sense.


A bit of family history. Belmont closed for a few years in the mid-1960s to build a new grandstand and modernize the whole property.
My Uncle proposed leasing a portion of the parking lot and installing speakers and a screen. By day, the track would still have parking, but at night, the lot would become a drive-in movie lot.
It sat in limbo for years until 1978, when someone from NYRA asked if he was still interested. By then, technology had evolved, and speakers were no longer needed, so the initial investment was much less. NYRA wanted a fee per car, and my uncle wanted to pay a percentage of his share of the box office. Legal fees started mounting, and my uncle left the deal.

.
since 2000 41 racetracks in the U.S. have closed - 26 within the last 10 years

only 2 racetracks with casinos have opened

annual wagering was about $11.7 billion in 2023 and in 2003 it was about $15.2 billion

that's a drop of about 24% without considering the devaluing of the currency during that time period

the majority of states with horse racing subsidize it to keep it afloat - the total of all of the subsidies is about $1 billion

many racetracks are coupled with casinos - and are called racinos - and are dependent on a cut of casino revenue - in 2023 there were about 50 racinos in the U.S.


https://www.gapetcoalition.org/horseracing#:~:text=Since%202000%2C%2041%20racetracks%20in,racetracks%20with%20casinos%20have%20opened.

https://paulickreport.com/news/the-biz/equibase-indicators-with-fewer-races-wagering-volume-down-average-up

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Quote: 100xOdds

Without the race track, how can the casino still legally exist?
link to original post

I imagine that the $500 million licensing fee will somehow make it OK.

When Empire City Racino in Yonkers tried to shut down he harness racing at Yonkers, they weren't allowed. There is a legal difference between a casino and a racino. New York State has very different rules from those of when I lived there.

When Empire City Racino in Yonkers tried to shut down he harness racing at Yonkers, they weren't allowed. There is a legal difference between a casino and a racino. New York State has very different rules from those of when I lived there.

Just got an offer to go to the Kentucky Derby. Tickets start at $1,000.