Racing Must Evolve 

It used to be that a day at the races was truly a big deal. Women would wear hats and gloves and men would bet on the horse that they felt was going to win – and everyone was happy. Then slowly, business started to die off. This is not to say that people don’t still go to the races, but it has definitely lost a lot of the luster that it used to have.  

But the problem isn’t what hat to wear anymore; it is whether or not the tracks can stay open. Most of them are working at a deficit now, so they have brought in slot machines to help them. By allowing slot machines at their tracks they can supplement the purses and the costs of running the operation through the money that is coming from the off track betting. But some say that the tracks have outlived their usefulness and that it is time to see them close up and go away. 

Horse enthusiasts say that the slot machines are a necessary progression for the tracks. They say they are simply one more tool through which people like to gamble. They also point out that if you got rid of the racetracks you would have hundreds of thousands of people out of work. And not just the people who work at the track, but the entire equestrian business would end up bankrupt.  

The slot machines are meant to supplement the money that comes in from the track, but some say that it far out passes it. They say that those tracks that have added slot machines are doing very well and everyone is happy. They argue that jobs are saved, as well as the horse racing industry – which entails hundreds of thousands of jobs.