One of California’s legendary racetracks, Hollywood Park, in Inglewood, ran its last races during one of the last weekends of the year. The park, established by some of the great stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age, was a victim of a declining interest in the sport and competition from casino gaming.
The 75-year old racetrack, officially known as Betfair Hollywood Park, can be seen as the poster child for the problems facing a racing industry that can trace its decline to the rise of casinos and online gamble.
Most of those who showed up to place bets the final weekend were part of an older demographic, mainly older men.
The racetrack opened in 1938, with Hollywood giants such as Jack Warner, Walt Disney, Bing Crosby and Samuel Goldwyn as its founders. That same year the famed champion horse Seabiscuit, won the first Hollywood Gold Cup.
At its peak, 34 years ago, attendance was more than 80,000. This year the track hosted about 3,000 visitors each day. The number of races held nationally has declined precipitately, to about half of what the nearly 90,000 held in the late 1980s.
Of course, those were the days when only Nevada and New Jersey had casinos and they were the only places where you could bet on the horses without actually physically attending a racetrack.
The park will be demolished to make way for about 3,000 homes.
