Presque Isle Downs is Ready

Presque Isle Downs had its big opening this past Labor Day weekend, and no one was more excited to see them open than state lawmakers. They joined Saratoga, Del Mar and Philadelphia Park with the distinction of offering the most purse money for their races – courtesy of the slots.

By adding slots into the horse racing tracks, Pennsylvania has completely changed the look of horse racing in the state. Their tracks now have the money from the slots to come in and prop up their purses, which makes them more attractive to both horse owners and bettors.

These are tracks that were looking at closing just four years ago, before the slots were approved in the state. The tracks literally did not know what to do as those who were interested in racing were heading to those places out of state that offered slots as well as horses. This lead to the trainers and owners to look elsewhere for larger purses.

However, once slots were legalized in 14 locations around the state, the tracks did a complete turnaround. There are five tracks up and running including Presque Isle, and more than $5 billion has been wagered at slots over the past year. They have more coming as well, as the state has authorized 61,000 slots to come in total. Slots are a great way to boost the economy of the track, as most tracks would not bring in that same kind of money on their own.



Back to September 2007 Archive.