Posted on: September 20, 2024, 01:19h.
Last updated on: September 20, 2024, 01:58h.
Two Pennsylvania casino owners have decided to shutter the oldest horse racetrack in the country in neighboring New Jersey.
New Jersey’s Freehold Raceway traces its roots to the 1830s. Harness racing became the staple of the half-mile dirt oval beginning in 1854.
Freehold has long been considered the oldest horse racetrack in the United States. That designation will end when the storied Standardbred harness racing track closes on Dec. 28, 2024.
This was an extremely difficult decision, especially given the historical importance of Freehold Raceway to the local community and the New Jersey horse racing industry,” said Freehold Raceway General Manager Howard Bruno. “Unfortunately, the operations of the racetrack cannot continue under existing conditions, and we do not see a plausible way forward.”
Located in Central New Jersey, the Freehold Raceway has certainly seen better days.
The facility has been allowed to deteriorate over the years, with its grandstand interior dated. An effort to open a retail sportsbook to lure in new patrons was short-lived after bettors stayed away in favor of Monmouth Park or placing wagers online.
Freehold Borough officials said upon the track’s closing announcement that the venue “had become shopworn and dated with little capital improvement to attract new customers.
Freehold is perhaps best known for being the site of the famous Triple Dead Heat” where three horses seemingly tied in a photo finish during an October 1953 race.
How Casinos Came to Own Freehold
In November 1998, Pennsylvania-based Penn Entertainment and Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment, then known as Penn National Gaming and Greenwood Racing, acquired Freehold for $57.5 million in cash and notes from International Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc.
At the time, Penn and Greenwood were primarily invested in horse racing with their respective tracks Penn National Race Course and Philadelphia Racetrack. Pennsylvania didn’t legalize slot machines until a decade later in 2008.
Today, Penn operates four casinos in Pennsylvania — Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course near Harrisburg, Hollywood Casino York, Hollywood Casino Morgantown, and Hollywood Casino at The Meadows in Washington. Greenwood manages two venues — Parx Casino north of Philadelphia, the top-revenue generating casino in Pennsylvania, and its sister property Parx Casino Shippensburg.
Penn and Greenwood acquired Freehold and operated it jointly for over the past quarter-century as an entity called Pennwood Inc.
We believe we can improve the entertainment product delivered to patrons, build purses for the horsemen, and create economic stimulus and employment,” the group said during the acquisition.
Those beliefs didn’t materialize, as the horse racing industry across the country fell on difficult times.
In 1999, its first year of ownership, Pennwood reported a gross handle of $64.3 million during 90 days of live racing, with on-track bets totaling $18.6 million. Last year, Freehold’s handle amounted to just $13.8 million, with on-site bets of only $1.25 million.
Freehold’s Final Stretch
New Jersey’s legalization of sports betting has helped save the state’s two remaining tracks, the Meadowlands and Monmouth Park. Those racetracks are respectively partnered with FanDuel and Caesars Sportsbook for in-person and mobile betting operations.
In what turned out to be a dire error, Freehold stayed on sidelines for several years after sports betting began in the Garden State.
Penn and Greenwood opened online sportsbooks in New Jersey after reaching partnerships with Atlantic City casinos to gain market access. Greenwood initially aligned with Caesars to launch its Bet Parx Sportsbook in New Jersey. Penn partnered with Resorts for online sportsbook privileges.
In late 2020, Penn and Greenwood converted their online sportsbook licenses to Freehold and opened a retail facility. But after struggling to gain meaningful market share, the track’s physical Bet Parx Sportsbook closed last month.
