With the economy in the United States taking a tumble, so to do the casino, betting and gambling industry. It has been widely reported that casinos and casino hotels across the nation have been taking major losses. Some of them have been forced into bankruptcy. New Jersey’s Atlantic City casino hotels have been really taking a hit. They were in a bit of a decline before the recession. Now it looks even worse. However, New Jersey’s horse racing industry is dangerously close to disappearing. Over the past two years numbers at race tracks like The Meadowlands have seen revenues drop dramatically, and most predict that it will be even worse this year.

It has gotten so bad that New Jersey’s governor, Chris Christie, assembled a special commission to look into the decline of numbers at the race tracks. The Governor’s concern is great because the race tracks employs thousands of people across the state. Not only in the equine and gambling industry, but is restaurants, cleaning and maintenance, and other various positions. The seven member panel is headed by a for mer chairman of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, Jon F. Hanson. The commission is not just looking into the racing industry, but the Xanadu entertainment complex which has been a stand still for far too long and costing the state money.

The problem with horse racing in New Jersey, and the rest of the country, is it has lost the interest of the public. President of the Association of Racing Commissioners International, Ed Martin, said, “The nature of the game has changed. Racing in general has not been growing.” As the crowds who enjoy racing get older, they stop going out to the track as often. Younger gamblers make their way to the casinos to play more popular games like poker. Attendance figures have dropped in tracks like the Meadowlands by staggering numbers. Hopefully, the commission will be able to find a suitable lifeline for the industry.

Tags: casino, gambling, online