Quote:
Originally Posted by ronsmac
If not for casino/slot money there’d only be a handful of tracks still running.
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I think that's flawed thinking. Slots prolonged life for some tracks to the detriment of others. There is an argument that if slots never entered the landscape anywhere, the older dynamic would have been stronger. Places like NY ( which was 20 years behind many jurisdictions in getting slots ) and Maryland would have held strong when tracks like Delaware ( already closed before slots ) and Pennsylvania tracks possibly disappeared. Monmouth would have remained strong in the summer, and even the Meadowlands thoroughbreds could have continued to at least some extent. Places like Arlington and Churchill would have maintained their status without Midwest tracks that existed pretty much only because of slots. Maybe even Suffolk would have continued.
That's not even mentioning what slot tracks likely did to CA, but I'm not particularly familiar with the West Coast slot tracks and how they have affected things out there. Bottom line is that, for better or worse, slot money changed the map but what was good for some wasn't necessarily good for others or possibly even the game as a whole. Hard to know for sure.
