Location | Grand Island, Nebraska |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°54′20″N98°19′43″W / 40.90556°N 98.32861°W |
Date opened | April 29, 1954 |
Race type | Thoroughbred |
Course type | Dirt |
Fonner Park is a thoroughbred horse racing facility located in Grand Island, Nebraska. Co-located with Eihusen Arena and the grounds of the Nebraska State Fair, it is named after its original land owner August L. Fonner, and first held races in 1954.
Fonner Park is a 5⁄8-mile (1,000 m; 5.0-furlong) dirt oval. [1] The Fonner Keno Casino and Finish Line Restaurant offers keno and off-track betting. [2] In July 2019, the facility received authorization from the Nebraska Racing Commission to install historical Instant Racing machines, [3] [4] but in February 2020 their installation was delayed due to a pending lawsuit over their legality. [5] [6]
The site was purchased by the Hall County Livestock Improvement Association in April 1953. The park was named after August L. "Gus" Fonner, who donated the land. The Old Reliable Hereford Show and Sale was held as its first livestock exhibition in September, before beginning its inaugural season of racing on April 29, 1954. In the years that followed, Fonner was expanded to include additional grandstand seating, expanded barn space, an indoor quarter-mile training track, and other amenities. [7]
In March 1979, Fonner Park began offering Sunday races for the first time. [7] In 1988, the track began simulcasts to Lincoln and Omaha. [7]
On March 16, 2020, live racing at Fonner Park was suspended due to health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. [8] On March 19, the facility announced that it planned to resume races behind closed doors as a "trial" from March 23 through April 1, with races moving from weekends to a Monday–Wednesday schedule, only essential personnel present at the track, and additional safety protocols. While grandstands would be closed to the public, spectators would still be able to watch from the track's parking lot, and use its geofenced betting app while on the grounds. The Fonner Keno Casino and restaurant would remain operational, subject to restrictions. [9] [10] [11]
As one of the few U.S. tracks to continue racing (and horse racing being one of the few sports to continue in any form amidst the pandemic's arrival in North America), the "boutique" [12] Fonner Park began to receive national exposure, including more frequent simulcasts by TVG Network. [13] [12] The change in scheduling and shift to late-afternoon first posts helped alleviate conflicts with weekend simulcast racing from other tracks still in operation, and helped attract more viewers from the west coast. [14] [15] [12]
With the resumption of races, Fonner Park experienced a surge in off-track betting activity domestically and abroad; on its first day of races after the resumption, the track handled over $1.3 million—surpassing the track's previous single-day record of $1.2 million. Fonner Park CEO Chris Kotulak noted that the track only received 3% of the revenue from OTB, meaning that higher numbers would be needed to cover purses and employee salaries. [16] In its first two weeks, the average handle increased to $2.1 million per day. [14] Fonner Park simulcasts were also being picked up in countries such as Australia, England, France, and South Africa, [17] [14] while the Grand Island Independent described the track as having temporarily become "the center of the horse racing world". [15]
On April 1, it was announced that Fonner Park would continue this racing format through April. Kotulak stated that it "exceeded our expectations because we did not expect as many other tracks to cancel racing". [11] By its sixth week, the average daily handle had peaked at $3.5 million, but to taper off towards $3 million as other tracks resumed racing. [14] From February through April, Fonner Park took a total of $71.3 million in wagers, a year-over-year increase of $63.8 million. It also accounted for 40% of wagers from TVG customers in April 2020 (as opposed to only 5% the year before). [15] [12]
On April 22, the Nebraska Racing Commission approved the addition of 12 additional days of racing in May, extending Fonner Park's season through May 27. [18] [14] [19]
After the pandemic, Fonner Park went back to its pre-pandemic schedule. In 2023, opposing HISA, Fonner Park cancelled interstate wavering, making a track which had less than 3 years ago simulcasted all around the world, no longer allowing betting on its races beyond state lines. [20]
Parimutuel betting or pool betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vigorish" are deducted, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winning bets. In some countries it is known as the tote after the totalisator, which calculates and displays bets already made.
Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic premise – to identify which of two or more horses is the fastest over a set course or distance – has been mostly unchanged since at least classical antiquity.
The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) is the not-for-profit corporation that operates the three largest thoroughbred horse racing tracks in the state of New York, United States: Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park, Queens; Belmont Park in Elmont; and Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs.
The Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Grade I Thoroughbred horse races, operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982. From its inception in 1984 through 2006, it was a single-day event; starting in 2007, it expanded to two days. All sites have been in the United States, except in 1996, when the races were at the Woodbine Racetrack in Canada.
The Ak-Sar-Ben Race Track and Coliseum was an indoor arena and horse racing complex in the central United States, located in Omaha, Nebraska.
Turfway Park is an American horse racing track located within the city limits of Florence, Kentucky, about 10 miles (16 km) south of the Ohio River at Cincinnati. The track conducts live Thoroughbred horse racing during two meets each year—Holiday (December), and Winter/Spring —and offers year-round simulcast wagering from tracks across the continent.
Calder Casino is a casino located in Miami Gardens, Florida. It includes slots, electronic table games, and bingo.
FanDuel Racing is an American sports-oriented digital cable and satellite television network. It is part of the TVG Network and is owned by Paddy Power Betfair. Dedicated to horse racing, it broadcasts events from U.S. and international racetracks, as well as a range of English and Western horse competitions, news, original programming and documentaries
FanDuel TV is an American sports betting-oriented digital cable and satellite television network owned by FanDuel Group, the U.S. subsidiary of Irish bookmaker Flutter Entertainment. It primarily airs live coverage of U.S. and international horse racing as well as studio shows focused on mainstream sports.
Stronach Group, doing business as 1/ST, is an entertainment and real estate company in North America with Thoroughbred horse racing and pari-mutuel wagering at the core.
Churchill Downs Incorporated is the parent company of Churchill Downs. The company has evolved from one racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky, to a multi American-state-wide, publicly traded company with racetracks, casinos and an online wagering company among its portfolio of businesses.
Delaware Park is an American Thoroughbred horse racing track, casino, and golf course in Stanton, Delaware. It is located just outside the city of Wilmington, and about 30 miles from Philadelphia.
Harrah's Philadelphia Casino & Racetrack is a harness racing track and casino on the Chester, Pennsylvania waterfront. It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by Caesars Entertainment.
Hazel Park Raceway, located in Hazel Park, Michigan, in the metropolitan Detroit area, was a horse race track. From 1949 it offered live thoroughbred racing every Friday and Saturday night May through mid-September, and also offered harness racing. Beginning in 1996, it offered simulcast wagering seven days a week all year long on thoroughbred and harness races from across the US and Canada. Admission and parking were free. For a period, this was the only track in Michigan to offer live thoroughbred racing.
Rosecroft Raceway, nicknamed the "Raceway by the Beltway" for being close to Interstate 495, is a harness racing track in Fort Washington, Maryland. It first opened in 1949 and was owned by William E. Miller, a horse trainer and breeder. Rosecroft quickly became Prince George's County's political and social center, drawing thousands of people there each racing day. In the early 1950s, average attendance was more than 7,000 per day. After Miller died in 1954, his son John owned Rosecroft until his death in 1969. Rosecroft hosted memorial stake races annually for both William and John until 1995. Following the death of John Miller, Earle Brown controlled operations until he moved to a different position in 1980; William E. Miller II took over following Brown.
Historical horse racing (HHR), originally known as Instant Racing, is an electronic gambling product that allows players to bet on replays of horse races or dog races that have already been run, using terminals that typically resemble slot machines.
Legal forms of gambling in the U.S. state of Massachusetts include casinos, sports betting, parimutuel wagering on horse racing, the Massachusetts Lottery, and charitable gaming. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission regulates commercial operations under state jurisdiction.
Betting on horse racing or horse betting commonly occurs at many horse races. Modern horse betting started in Great Britain in the early 1600s during the reign of King James I. Gamblers can stake money on the final placement of the horses taking part in a race. Gambling on horses is, however, prohibited at some racetracks. For example, because of a law passed in 1951, betting is illegal in Springdale Race Course, home of the nationally renowned Toronto-Dominion Bank Carolina Cup and Colonial Cup Steeplechase in Camden, South Carolina.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Nebraska is an ongoing viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). As of March 2, 2022, there have been 475,690 confirmed cases and 3,986 deaths.
Legal forms of gambling in the U.S. state of New Hampshire include the New Hampshire Lottery, sports betting, parimutuel wagering, and charitable gaming. The state's Gaming Regulatory Oversight Authority (GROA) is part of the New Hampshire Lottery Commission, which also maintains an Investigative & Compliance Division.