Horse racing fans graying and fewer, but betting more

Lori Hinnant

Thursday, March 14, 2002 | 9:57 a.m.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The betting rooms are still smoky, floors scattered with shreds of losing tickets, air filled with a mix of curses and hoarse cheers.

But around the country and in New Jersey, horse racing fans -- always overwhelmingly male -- are growing older. And each year, fewer are going to the tracks.

"Horse racing has done a poor job of attracting the next generation of horse racing fans," said Adam Steinberg, an analyst with CIBC Brokerage who studies the gaming industry. "To this day, it's still old men."

Average track attendance at the Meadowlands is down from a 1978 peak of 17,820 to an all-time low last year of 5,032. At Monmouth Park, average track attendance last year was 10,757, up slightly from the year before. Earlier figures were not available, but industry experts say attendance is generally down there as well.

Nationally, attendance has declined similarly.

When there is no live racing, the Meadowlands is open from noon until the last simulcast, usually late into the evening. On most days, fans are sparsely gathered around simulcasting monitors, with large sections of the empty grandstands closed off to visitors.

From Wednesday through Sunday most of the year, people driving past the racetrack can see hundreds of cars parked in the otherwise empty sports complex that includes Giants Stadium and Continental Arena.

At the Meadowlands one Saturday night, the restaurant was full, as were the private booths where the regulars place their bets. But the grandstands were only about one-third full.

Sandy Zoccali, a track regular, is pessimistic about the future of racing. He says tracks are trying, but failing, to bring in young fans.

"As I'm getting older, everybody else is getting older," said Zoccali, 60, of Staten Island. "We need new families. I've seen them try things in New York with rock concerts and everything. It was a bust."

Zoccali has brought his 18-year-old son to the track since the boy was a toddler, but says he's an exception.

"I'm a gambler. I love the horses," he said before dashing to the teller to place a last-minute bet. "I'm a math person. I like trying to figure out the numbers."

Many younger visitors to the track come for a night out or for a special occasion.

"We were just out and saw the cars in the parking lot," said Matt Shauger, 22, who was at the track with Lisa Vanauken, also 22.

"We haven't even made a bet yet, except with each other," she said.

Neither was sure they would come again.

Ron and Jan Nelson, who brought their 7- and 9-year-old sons, came for a birthday celebration. Like several other fans that night, they complained about the Meadowlands food service, but said the boys loved watching the races.

"It just seemed to be a great, fun thing to do," Jan Nelson said.

Officials involved in the state's horse racing industry say attendance is unlikely to increase drastically without major changes in how the tracks do business.

George Zoffinger, who was appointed this month to run the Sports Authority, said he is considering adding slot machines to the racetrack, a change fans and horsemen both say is needed to keep New Jersey competitive with its neighbors. Delaware tracks have slot machines, and New York state has passed a law to allow them.

"We're going to have to get slots," said Francis X. Keegan, president of the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horseman's Association. "I don't know of any other way of doing this right now other than to create new gambling opportunities."

The amount wagered on horses in New Jersey has climbed steadily in recent years through simulcasting, off-track betting and telephone wagering. New Jersey has passed, but not implemented, a law permitting telephone and off-track betting; however, the signal from the state's three active racetracks is broadcast around the world.

John Walzak, a University of Arizona professor who studies horse racing, blamed longer professional sports seasons, casinos, lotteries and horse racing's initial refusal decades ago to televise events as reasons for the loss of clientele.

Still, Walzak said a lack of people in the grandstands doesn't mean horse racing won't survive.

"It can live without crowds," he said. "Racing is not on its deathbed by any means."