Dockside gambling cutting into track’s simulcast betting

Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2002 | 9:51 a.m.

FLORENCE, Ky. -- Turfway Park officials say the arrival of dockside gambling is draining money from simulcast betting at the track.

The final numbers of the track's recently ended fall meet were down, and Turfway President Bob Elliston blames the decrease on continued competition from Indiana's riverboat casinos.

During the 22-day meet that ended Thursday, on-track betting was basically even compared with last year at about $7.8 million. But betting on simulcasting -- the races broadcast in Turfway's Race Book facility -- fell by nearly 10 percent.

Overall, total betting dropped by 5 percent from $71 million last year to $67.5 million this year, according to numbers released Friday by Turfway.

Since riverboat casinos opened in southern Indiana in 1996, Turfway's business has dropped by about 50 percent, he said. Dockside gambling began in August in Indiana.

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