Do Tracks Really Need Slot Machines?

Track after track across the nation have started adding slot machines to their lineup. The battle cry was that they needed slot machines to compete with other gambling venues. Then they needed slot machines to compete with the tracks that had slot machines already. However, adding slot machines is not necessarily changing the situation.

The tracks are looking for a cure all in an age that is not embracing horse and dog racing. Animal activists, environmentalists, the young – they just are not interested in the sport. They think it is more of an older people’s game and would prefer some sort of X game instead.

Racing officials in each of the states have said that they will not exist without slot machines, and that they will end up closing because they cannot compete. However, they also say that they can bring in bigger purses and better horses if they bring in slot machines. But who is watching them?

The tracks might be able to bring in better horses and offer bigger purses, but those people that are now coming to their tracks are coming for slot machines, not to watch the horses or dogs race. They didn’t watch them before they added the slot machines, what makes them think that they would watch them after?

Slot machine enthusiasts basically stick to playing slot machines. Experts say that it is an industry that sees very little crossover. They pick the slot machine or game that they like and stick with it. If you are trying to save the industry for the jobs that is one thing, but if you are adding slot machines for the hell of it, that is another.




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