Is the sport of horse racing in decline?

Question

Some tracks have closed and, by just scanning the crowd, it seems to be getting smaller. I know that on-line betting and off track betting would naturally affect the numbers at the track, but I've wondered if people are going to casinos instead.

Answer 1

well lets see it has been for decades now ever since seabiscuit everything has been different.

they have came out with numerous horse movies lately so thats always good for the "sport''.

people have began to realize that watching horses race one time around a track is pretty much pointless and it is a lot more fun to roll some dice and pull the lever on the the slots

times have changed and so have the tracks to accomadate its lack of crowds and success

barbaro was its biggest story and that was a tragedy as he eventually died after a inventive surgery in horses.

so pretty much yea for the past 5 decades.

Answer 2

The stats from the National Thoroughbrad Racing Association shows that it has been in decline since the late 60's.  Not just in attendance, which OTB could explain, but also in real inflation adjusted dollars.  TV audiences, attendance and betting are at their lowest level in nearly 50 years.  It is almost extinct.

Check out their website for the sorryass statistics.

Answer 3

there is only so much money that people can spend for gambling and horseracing is one game wherein the fun is in betting on the horse you like and with the proliferation of a lots of casinos and existence of so much state sponsored lottery and scratched games its no wonder that there are few people going to rqace tracks and betting on horses. there is too much saturation of betting games and somewhere, somehow somebody has to suffer.

Answer 4

I wouldn't say that the sport is in a decline. It's probably more of the latter.

I suspect that the majority of the crowd at the track were just gambling enthusiasts.

I think that online betting has drawn the gamblers away from the track and left the horseracing enthusiasts there at the track.

I think people that enjoy gambling are looking for the highest return on their bet.

There’s not much money to be made in horse racing unless you own a winning racehorse.

Another thing too about horse racing is that racehorse owners for the most part are some of the wealthiest individuals in the world and it seems that many, if not most, of the wealthy’s young progeny are mainly spoiled brats that just want to party as opposed to keeping things like horseracing active.

That’s part of the problem of being wealthy and not having to earn it.

But I digress somewhat.

Bottom line is that they have to come up with some way to put fun AND profit into going to the track to draw the general public back to the track.

Like horse rides for the kids or random jackpots and giveaways for the visitors and gamblers.

And don’t forget…people are lazy too.

Don’t forget we live in a couch potato society that wants everything to be here, now and plenty of it.