As we all know by now—and as much as we hate to admit it—sports betting is the latest and hottest rage in the ever-widening arena of gam(bl)ing.
Yes, it has had, for the most part, a negative effect on racing…but so has the formerly illegal “numbers racket,” now legally known as the lottery, the popularity of poker and the explosive expansion of casinos…and toss in bingo halls for good measure.
The value of land hasn’t helped, either, as we’ve seen in, for example, New York (Roosevelt Raceway), Illinois and their five parks—Washington, Sportsman’s, Maywood, Balmoral and the granddaddy of them all, Arlington, all sold by those that have professed their love for pari-mutuel racing…until, that is, the big bucks were put on the table for the grabbing!
More recently, Florida land values produced the demise of Calder Racecourse and Pompano Park.
The list goes on and on and too long for this Mane Attraction but the list totals more than 40—over 25 of them closing within the past 10 years or so.
Yes, all of this competition has left racing gasping for breath—many using “oxygen tanks” in the form of infusions from State legislatures and casino interests.
How long this will last is anybody’s guess with those tracks not having such luxuries probably suffering from “end-stage” emphysema…like the dozens and dozens of pari-mutuel tracks (greyhound, jai alai, thoroughbred and harness) that have perished already.
Sports betting has invaded 38 States plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico.
Talk about slot machines being a hypnotic activity in casinos, it is said that sports betting has a bigger grip on the gambler and equals big advertising dollars, as well, as those described as the “all-in” player watches over 22 hours of sports per week. The “casual” player averages close to 17 hours per-week watching sports with the “sporadic” bettor watches about 13 hours per-week.
What brought this to the forefront for this Mane Attraction is the closing of the sports facility at Freehold Raceway, right in the HEART of New Jersey on Routes 9 and 33…just as the biggest draw for those sports books, the FOOTBALL SEASON, is set to get underway.
Sports betting draws, most likely, over $150 BILLION in revenue per year and growing by leaps and bounds.
In New Jersey, it all started in June 2018 at the Borgata. Ocean Resort and Monmouth Park the first to open their doors.
Ballys and The Meadowlands jumped in the pool one month later with the Golden Nugget, Harrah’s, and Resorts opening their doors in August, followed by The Tropicana in October.
For some reason, Freehold, again, located in the very HEART of the State, did not open their doors to sports betting at that time.
That year, 2018, a “bit” over $94 million was placed on sports wagers in the Garden State with The Meadowlands, having a one month jump on the rest, the highest at $31,359,800 with Resorts next at $31,087,164.
The next year, The Meadowlands sports betting revenue exploded to almost $150 million—$149,915,924, Monmouth doubling their opening year—actually eight months—to $25,930,373…BUT STILL NO FREEHOLD.
As Covid took a six month bite out of sports betting revenue in 2020, Freehold’s sports betting site opened in the latter part of the year with The Meadowlands putting on a strong showing as patrons, having that “thirst” for action, winding up the year at $206,478,698.
In 2021, The Meadowlands gathered $451,825,498, outgunning Monmouth Park ($34,658,793) with Freehold Raceway gathering a good bit of strength the final four months of the year to vault over $24 million—the State total being $815,759,996.
The next year—2022—with New Jersey, along with the rest of the country, feeling the effects of a recession, sports betting revenue was down a bit—$762,851,700—but The Meadowlands held very firm at $422,217,576.
Freehold had their best year at $25,355,483, out-sprinting Monmouth Park, which had sports betting revenue of $21,660,381.
The year 2023 saw New Jersey vault over the $1 BILLION plateau for the first time ($1,006,591,602) with, once again, The Meadowlands leading the parade at $483,586,832. (By the way, Resorts was next with a “bit” over $314 million) Freehold Raceway had their best year to date with $30,289,021 with two of their best months coming during the strong NFL months of November and December.
Thus far—actually just through May of 2024—Meadowlands already had $311,204,326 on the sports books with Freehold having their best three months of the year (March through May) after a couple of tough months to start the year.
So, that brings us to the question as to why the owner(s) of Freehold Raceway—one being Penn Entertainment (in partnership)—would close the sports book facility as the kickoff to the lucrative NFL season is about to begin?
Has the comfort of home, a phone and the ease of opening an account taking a bite out of any sports book—just like racing—and made it too easy to place wagers?
Attempts to get a statement from Penn National Entertainment proved unsuccessful.
Said one disgruntled fan, “I hear they gave up their license to even run the book! Hey, it’s a gaming company with a lot of properties. What is this? The State should really look into who gets licenses and check the credentials of all applicants. This should never happen.”
Yet Mike R. from Freehold said, “They (the owners) have not put a dime into the place. Case-in-point, when they had a few fireworks on the 4th (of July), there wasn’t any food stands open and the ATM’s weren’t operational. It’s a dump now!
“Purses are even down from the even low ones we had before. This place has a lot of history behind it. (Editor’s note: They had organized racing in the early 1850’s with evidence of racing there in the 1830’s.) It’s a shame that the owners are letting it go to hell. Hey, I’m just a few minutes down the road and they are turning a gold mine into a garbage can! They could do it if they wanted to.”
Gord S. chimed in saying, “I heard the book that runs it owes a lot of money and won’t pay and they had no choice but to shut it down. These casino companies watch their bottom lines like a hawk!”
The track re-opens on August 23 through late December with racing Fridays and Saturdays with Thursday racing added from September 12 through October 10—41 dates—but, sadly, without a Race Book, prompting longtime resident Barney B. to speak his piece…
“I’ve been a Freeholder forever and, lemme tell ya, the reason that The Meadowlands is so popular is because they have a first class sports book—a destination, so to speak. It’s magnificent…it’s lively…it’s fun.
“These businesses—casinos included—have a choice to invest in something to make it a go or let it crumble into a slum.
“The Penn folk and their partners have shown that they just might want the place to fail—and closing the (sports) book before the football season really shows that. Businesses would ‘kill’ for a license that valuable but, no, they just let it drown away.
“I don’t think that, with all their properties, they give much of a damn about Freehold, anyhow, and this is just another excuse to get rid of ‘dead wood.’
“They should have worked as hard to make it succeed as they are doing to kill it!
“It’s very sad!
“Anyhow, I’m on my way to The Meadowlands now—do you believe it? I’m two minutes from Freehold and I’m going an hour to The Meadowlands to have some fun…
“With that guy Tua teamed up with that Tyreek guy, I’m betting $100 on the Dolphins to win the Super Bowl.
“It will be the easiest $2,000 I ever made!”
May The Horse Be With You.
by John Berry, for Harnesslink