The Detroit Race Course was a complex in Livonia, Michigan, a suburb northwest of Detroit and part of the metropolitan area. It consisted of a regulation racing track and associated stables for horses, and facilities for trainers, exercise workers, and jockeys. It was opened in 1950 primarily as a venue for racing thoroughbreds. The track owners also leased the complex to Wolverine Raceway for Standardbred harness racing events. [1] The large complex had stables with a capacity for 1200 horses.
Until the late 1980s, the Detroit Race Course (DRC) and others, with its racetrack betting, were the only sites in Michigan for legalized gambling. In this period, efforts to introduce other types of gambling at the DRC were unsuccessful. Interest in horse racing declined in the late 20th century. In 1985 the business was sold to Ladbroke, a UK-based hotel and gambling company. [2] It discontinued harness racing that year.
The DRC and gaming environment was adversely affected by the opening in 1994 of Casino Windsor across the river in Ontario, Canada. The casino was owned by the province and was a rousing success, attracting millions of visitors annually, many from the Midwest. The complex is owned by Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation of the provincial government. Following a major expansion in 2008, it is now known as Caesars Windsor.
In response, in 1996 the Michigan state legislature and governor passed a law to establish gaming in the state, beginning with casinos to be constructed in Detroit, the largest city and across from Windsor. Two casinos opened in 1999 and the third in 2000. They were intended in part to help generate revenues for the city of Detroit, which had struggled financially.
The last horse races on the flat at DRC were run in 1998. In May 1998 Ladbroke announced the sale of Detroit Race Course. Based on the new 1996 law, which authorized betting at tracks for simulcast events, Millennium, the new owners, used the complex as a venue for viewing simulcast video racing, with associated betting, into 1999. Attempts failed to gain voter approval for expanded forms of gaming at racetracks, such as slot machines. That summer Millennium demolished the facilities to redevelop the property for commercial uses.
As noted, the legislature in 1996 approved casinos in the state. Three have opened in Detroit: the MGM Grand Detroit and MotorCity Casino in 1999, and Greektown Casino-Hotel in 2000. In addition, by 2019 there were two dozen casinos elsewhere in the state owned and operated by federally recognized Native American tribes.
Thoroughbred racing was reintroduced at Hazel Park Raceway in 2014 after 30 years. Harness racing continued at other sites in the state, and now, one last harness racing facility operates, Northville Downs at Northville, Michigan. Sports Creek Raceway, a harness racing track near Swartz Creek, Michigan, operated from 1986 to 2015.
Several car racing tracks continue to operate in the state.
Coordinates: 42°22′48″N83°19′22″W / 42.38000°N 83.32278°W
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Parx Casino and Racing is a thoroughbred horse racing venue and the largest casino gaming complex in Pennsylvania. Parx is located in Bensalem Township in Bucks County, northeast of the city of Philadelphia. Owned and operated by Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment, Inc., Parx features 24-hour gaming with over 3,200 slot machines, 188 live table games, a poker room with 48 poker tables, live racing and simulcast action, sports betting, several dining options and bars, and the Xcite Center. Parx also offers online gambling and online sports betting along with off-track betting at two locations.
A racino is a combined race track and casino. In some cases, the gambling is limited to slot machines, but many locations are beginning to include table games such as blackjack, poker, and roulette.
Dover Downs is a hotel, casino, and racetrack complex in Dover, Delaware. It has a .625-mile (1.006 km) harness horse racing track, which is surrounded by Dover International Speedway, a 1-mile (1.6 km) concrete track used for NASCAR motor racing events. The speedway is owned and operated by Dover Motorsports. The rest of the Dover Downs complex is the property of Twin River Worldwide Holdings.
The Charlottetown Driving Park (CDP), located in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada is a harness racing track for racing standardbred horses.
Canterbury Park, is a horse racing track in Shakopee, Minnesota, USA. It runs a meet that consists of about 70 racing days from early May to mid-September, generally holding scheduled races Thursday through Sunday, with racing added on several holidays throughout the meet. The track itself features a one-mile (1,600 m) oval dirt track and a seven-furlong (1,400 m) turf course. Outside seating is available along with several indoor seating options. The track runs multiple food stands and bars throughout the building and simulcast betting is also offered.
Penn National Gaming, Inc. is an American operator of casinos and racetracks, based in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. It operates 43 facilities in the United States and Canada, many of them under the Hollywood Casino brand. The company also controls a 36% stake in Barstool Sports. Penn formed a corporate spin-off in November 2013 called Gaming and Leisure Properties.
TVG Network is an online horse and greyhound racing betting business and American sports-oriented digital cable and satellite television network that is owned by FanDuel Group, the division in the United States of Flutter Entertainment.
Churchill Downs Incorporated is the parent company of Churchill Downs. The company has evolved from one racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky, to a multi US-state, publicly traded company with racetracks, casinos and the United States' leading online wagering company among its portfolio of businesses.
Saratoga Casino Hotel is an establishment in Saratoga Springs, New York. Saratoga Casino Hotel is home to a 1⁄2-mile standardbred race track, with a racino and hotel located inside the racetrack's grandstand. Saratoga Casino Hotel is not to be confused with the historic Saratoga Race Course thoroughbred race track located across the street on Nelson Avenue.
Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG), originally the Ontario Jockey Club, operates two horse racing racetracks, a casino and off-track betting stations in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada. Woobine also owns and operates the Canadian digital television service, HPItv and operates Canada's only online wagering platform for horse racing HorsePlayer Interactive. WEG is responsible for operations of the race track at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto and also operates at Woodbine Mohawk Park in Campbellville, Ontario. It employs over 2,300 people in its operation. Woodbine Entertainment Group also operated the Turf Lounge from 2003 to 2015.
Eldorado Gaming Scioto Downs, formerly known as Scioto Downs Racino , is a horse racing track and casino in Columbus, Ohio, owned and operated by Eldorado Resorts. The track has operated since 1959, and became Ohio's first racino with the addition of video lottery terminals (VLTs) on June 1, 2012. The track was annexed by Columbus from Hamilton Township in 2012. The casino is 117,000 square feet (10,900 m2), with over 2,200 VLTs.
Rideau Carleton Raceway is a Canadian horse racing and gambling complex located at 4837 Albion Road in Ottawa, Ontario. The facility began operation in 1962 and specialises in Standardbred harness racing.
The Meadows Racetrack and Casino is a standardbred harness racing track and slot machine casino in North Strabane Township, Pennsylvania, United States, about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Pittsburgh. It is owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties and operated by Penn National Gaming.
Hazel Park Raceway, located in Hazel Park, Michigan, in the metropolitan Detroit area, was a horse race track. From 1949 it offered live thoroughbred racing every Friday and Saturday night May through mid-September, and also offered harness racing. Beginning in 1996, it offered simulcast wagering seven days a week all year long on thoroughbred and harness races from across the US and Canada. Admission and parking were free. For a period, this was the only track in Michigan to offer live thoroughbred racing.
Rosecroft Raceway, nicknamed the "Raceway by the Beltway" for being close to Interstate 495, is a harness racing track in Fort Washington, Maryland. It first opened in 1949 and was owned by William E. Miller, a horse trainer and breeder. Rosecroft quickly became Prince George's County's political and social center, drawing thousands of people there each racing day. In the early 1950s, average attendance was more than 7,000 per day. After Miller died in 1954, his son John owned Rosecroft until his death in 1969. Rosecroft hosted memorial stake races annually for both William and John until 1995. Following the death of John Miller, Earle Brown controlled operations until he moved to a different position in 1980; William E. Miller II took over following Brown.
Harrington Raceway & Casino is a harness racing track and casino located on the fairgrounds of the Delaware State Fair, just south of Harrington, Delaware, 16 miles (26 km) south of Dover. The casino, formerly known as Midway Slots, has over 1,800 slot machines, table games, simulcasting, and sports betting. In addition, the venue promotes and hosts concerts and other similar entertainment revues. Multiple dining options including a buffet are available as well.
Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway is a racino in Dayton, Ohio, United States. It was originally established in 1959 as Raceway Park in Toledo, Ohio, hosting car racing and thoroughbred racing. It is owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties and operated by Penn National Gaming.
Xpressbet, LLC is a subsidiary of Stronach Group Company. The company provides pari-mutuel action services that enable account holders to watch and wager on thoroughbred, harness, and quarter horse racing through online, phone, and mobile devices. It also provides handicapping resources, such as daily picks, wagering guides, newsletters, blogs, and columns. The company was founded in 2002 and is based in Washington, Pennsylvania. It provides wagering service to nearly 200 racetracks in North America, Australia, Europe, South Africa and the Middle East. It also offers back-end or white label wagering services for other Account Deposit Wagering (ADW) supplier.
Legal forms of gambling in the U.S. state of Massachusetts include casinos, parimutuel wagering on horse racing, the Massachusetts Lottery, and charitable gaming. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission regulates commercial operations under state jurisdiction.