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Slots Not Helping PA Racetracks

Proponents of expanded gambling legislation in states with embattled horse racing industries like to promise that legalizing and installing slot machine terminals will bring new life to racetracks. In Pennsylvania at least, it seems that this will not be the case. A report published yesterday in the Times Leader newspaper found that racetrack attendance and bets have actually dropped – suggesting that, if slot games have had any effect at all, it’s been a negative one. Another disturbing trend is that the average age of those making wagers on the races is going up… meaning that racing is failing to keep up with the times and draw in new fans.

At one of Pennsylvania’s most prominent “racinos,” bets fell fifteen percent between 2007 and last year. The Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs in the city of Plains Township did, however, host a racing season that lasted thirty-eight fewer days than that of 2007, because a new paddock was in the process of being constructed for the racehorses. Jim Wise, the Mohegan Sun’s marketing director, pointed out that this could have contributed to the bad numbers, and not the new slot machines at the Downs.

Some have suggested that the horse racing model is just not as attractive to younger gamblers as the simplicity and ease of playing the slots – and that providing them with these new and preferred machines might have actually signed the death warrant for the state racing industry. But those involved in Pennsylvania racing have indicated that they will not be backing down without a fight.

Back to February 2009 Archive.