Aqueduct, the last operating horse racetrack in New York City, hosted its final race this past weekend and will shut its doors for good on September 7.
The closure of the 135-year-old track is a watershed moment for horse racing in the US, leaving the nation with just 75 thoroughbred racetracks, ABC7 reported.
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association suggested that the US sports betting boom was to blame for a slew of big-name racetrack closures in recent years.
“With the expansion of sports gambling, our sport will naturally condense and coalesce around a more pragmatic number of marquee tracks and locations, similar to other sports,” said association chief Tom Rooney.
US bettors spent almost $167 billion in total handle on sports wagers last year, with handle figures the highest in New York.
Sports-related prediction market contracts are also in high demand, with annual trading volume approaching $100 billion. But US bettors are only spending a tiny fraction of all this money on horse racing bets and contracts.
Punters place around 50-60% of US sports bets on American football games, per many estimates. Following behind are other major US sports, including baseball and basketball.
Horse racing handle, by contrast, is on a steady decline, slumping to approximately $11.8 billion, down from over $12.1 billion in 2022.
Following its last Sunday race, Aqueduct will continue to simulcast horse races for live, televised betting sessions until September.
Racing No Longer at the Table as Sports Betting Booms
The steady downturn in horse racing has seen other big-name closures across the US this decade.
The NFL’s Chicago Bears snapped up Arlington Park in Illinois two years after its 2021 closure. The Bears have earmarked the site for a new stadium.
San Francisco also said goodbye to Golden Gate Fields in 2024, marking an end to almost 100 years of racing.
“Our entire industry handle is 6.6% of the legal sports betting market,” lamented a US horse racing insider earlier this month. “We are not at the table.”
New York’s Last Racetrack: A Steady Decline
Aqueduct was built in 1894, at the peak of the US horse racing boom. At the time, the country was host to around 320 racetracks.
The iconic New York track took its name from an aqueduct that stood at the site, bringing fresh water to the Big Apple from Long Island.
Big winners at Aqueduct over the years included Secretariat, who ran five times at the course in the early 1970s.
Aqueduct was also the stage for Secretariat’s final public appearance: his retirement ceremony on November 6, 1973.
Rooney said: “For over 100 years, thoroughbred racing was one of very few sports outlets you could legally bet on.”
Horse racing continues to enjoy enormous popularity in East Asia, where it remains one of the few sports citizens can wager on.
But the sport’s online betting handle is also in a tailspin in the UK. According to Gambling Commission figures released in November, the industry has seen a 6% year-on-year decline in online betting turnover, bringing it just above the $10 billion mark.
In 2022, the turnover stood at over $13 billion.
