Maryland Racing Future: Preakness Moving to Laurel Park in 2026

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00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 - And as we close out, news on the state.

00:05 I guess the biggest question here is not the fact

00:08 that the Preakness Stakes will looks like

00:10 it will continue in Maryland.

00:12 I guess the question for you, Jim,

00:13 is do you see it continuing at Pimlico or somewhere else?

00:17 I know when we talked earlier in the week,

00:19 somewhere else seemed to be the predominant theme here.

00:22 Is that still the case?

00:24 - Yeah, so the Preakness will be held at Laurel Park,

00:28 also in Maryland, just one year in 2026.

00:32 And I spoke to some people that were involved

00:35 in the writing of the legislation

00:38 around the future of Maryland racing

00:41 and redeveloping Pimlico,

00:44 kind of tearing it down and rebuilding it.

00:47 And I picked up on some interesting themes

00:50 from this conversation.

00:51 One was that in the past,

00:54 the horse racing industry in Maryland

00:57 has kind of missed or passed on the opportunity

01:02 to get their hands on some expanded gambling options

01:08 when they legalized slot machines in Maryland back in 2012.

01:12 The company that owned Pimlico and Laurel Park,

01:16 they didn't submit an application.

01:18 They didn't want it.

01:19 And then, a bunch of sort of fiscal and financial issues

01:24 started to arise when these properties

01:27 started to be in need of a facelift and some repairs.

01:32 They also had the opportunity

01:34 to put a brick and mortar retail sports book

01:38 at one of their properties.

01:39 And they declined to do that,

01:41 saying that the million dollar licensing fee

01:45 was a bit too steep,

01:46 given that the vast, vast majority,

01:49 like we see everywhere else in sports betting revenue

01:53 is coming from online sources.

01:56 Part of the legislation that was just passed

01:58 on Monday evening eliminates

02:03 that one million dollar licensing fee

02:06 for a retail sports book at Pimlico

02:10 during this redevelopment process.

02:12 Now, they didn't tell me specifically

02:14 that they will be building one in there,

02:17 but they did tell me that it becomes a bit more palatable now

02:21 to build that retail sports book

02:25 into the construction plans without the million dollar,

02:29 that added million dollar cost of the license.

02:33 Now, the state is forking over about $400 million in bonds

02:37 to help redevelop Pimlico.

02:40 So, I would suspect,

02:43 I would venture a pretty strong guess

02:45 that it'll be strongly considered

02:48 adding a retail sports book at Pimlico.

02:50 One other interesting thing that they told me too

02:52 is the available seating,

02:55 the seats is only gonna be a couple of thousand.

02:58 And it's a similar theme

03:01 with the Belmont Park redevelopment plan

03:03 that's going on in New York right now.

03:05 They're tearing down a massive, massive clubhouse

03:09 in Grandstand that had seating for over 80,000 people,

03:13 and they're reducing it to about seven to 10,000 people.

03:17 So, like we've seen in sports betting, Craig,

03:22 everything is happening online.

03:24 You're at a game, right?

03:26 A lot of these stadiums now have sports books

03:29 or sort of sports betting lounges

03:31 where most of the people are likely betting on their phones.

03:35 The same thing happens at racetracks.

03:38 I was at the track in New York City on Saturday,

03:41 and there's plenty of terminals to go and place your bet,

03:44 but I'm sitting there placing the bet on my phone

03:47 because it's more convenient.

03:49 So, a lot of these horse betting facilities

03:52 that are getting government funding to be redeveloped,

03:57 they're focused on that redevelopment

04:01 with the eyes towards a lot of this stuff

04:03 is happening online.

04:04 We don't need these massive facilities anymore.

04:07 They're turning more into sort of entertainment venues

04:12 rather than gambling venues,

04:16 and that is certainly turning up in the blueprints

04:19 and the construction plans for these facilities.

04:22 (upbeat music)

04:25 [MUSIC]

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