Article: Horse Racing Stakes Its Future on the Slots
by
Horse Racing Stakes Its Future on the Slots
By EVAN WEINER June 7, 2007
The Belmont Stakes is among those sports events that once commanded an awful lot of attention. But the horse racing industry, be it the thoroughbreds or the harness horses, just isn't as significant to the American sports culture as it was in, say, 1950. A spectator sport from a bygone era, the industry has for decades seen a steady decline in interest and is now dependent on revenue from video lottery terminals or slot machines for its survival. In New York, harness racing was saved from extinction by the installation of slots at Yonkers, Monticello, Tioga, and other tracks.
Essentially, horse racing has become largely dependent on a one-armed bandit to keep it going.
Thoroughbred racing has suffered a direr fate. The New York Racing Association is in the middle of bankruptcy proceedings, and has appealed to the state legislature and Governor Spitzer to pass legislation that would bring slot machines into Belmont, Aqueduct, and Saratoga racetracks as a way to increase revenue flow into the industry.
