Bay Meadows Closing

It was just one more blow to the California horse racing industry when Bay Meadows Racecourse announced that they would be closing in November, especially since many thought that the announcement wouldn’t come for several more years. They say that they cannot compete with online gambling, or the tribe’s slot machine casinos, and therefore must close up shop.

The horse racing industry has been suffering for some time now, and has been asking the state for assistance. They say that if they were allowed to have slot machines as well then they could compete with the casinos, but as of yet this has not been approved. They have been trying other ways to bring in money, but they say that the slot machines are just too big of a draw away from their industry.

They are currently battling the government to try and put a halt to many of the compacts that the governor just signed with the tribes that would increase the number of slot machines that they are allowed. They say that the tribes currently have exclusive rights to have slot machines in the state and that puts them at a disadvantage and makes them unable to compete.

They say that unless they are given slot machines as well, they cannot compete with the tribes, online gambling, or with other horse racing tracks in other states. They say they cannot offer the kind of purses that other states can, which means they are slowly killing the industry. It used to be a $4 billion industry, and now with attendance declining more than 35% since 1990, they know that their days are numbered.


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