Presque Isle Downs & Casino is a

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

and

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

track near

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

, owned and operated by

Churchill Downs Inc. 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 comp ...

History

The developer,

MTR Gaming Group MTR Gaming Group was a gaming company based in Chester, West Virginia that operated horse racing tracks and racinos. It was formed on March 7, 1988, in Wilmington, Delaware. On September 19, 2014, it merged with Eldorado Holdco LLC, forming Eldora ...

, broke ground in October 2005 for the new facility, which opened on February 28, 2007.

Simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...

ing was transferred from its former upper

Peach Street The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-fuz ...

location and became operational in August 2007. In January 2019,

Eldorado Resorts Caesars Entertainment, Inc., formerly Eldorado Resorts, Inc., is an American hotel and casino entertainment company founded and based in Reno, Nevada that operates more than 50 properties. Eldorado Resorts acquired Caesars Entertainment Corporat ...

(the successor of MTR Gaming) sold the property to Churchill Downs Inc. for $178.9 million.

Description

The casino contains 1,500

slot machines A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively as ...

. The oval track opened on September 2, 2007. The racing surface is the synthetic material

Tapeta Footings The track surface of a horse racing track refers to the material of which the track is made. There are three types of track surfaces used in modern horse racing. These are: *Turf, the most common track surface in Europe *Dirt, the most common trac ...

(a mixture of

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...

fiber Fiber or fibre (from la, fibra, links=no) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorporate ...

with a

wax Waxes are a diverse class of organic compounds that are lipophilic, malleable solids near ambient temperatures. They include higher alkanes and lipids, typically with melting points above about 40 °C (104 °F), melting to give low ...

coating). It was the first synthetic horse racetrack longer than in the

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

and the first racetrack paved with Tapeta in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Gaming Gaming may refer to: Games and sports The act of playing games, as in: * Legalized gambling, playing games of chance for money, often referred to in law as "gaming" * Playing a role-playing game, in which players assume fictional roles * Playing ...

revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive reven ...

is split between the operator (45%) and the

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Maryl ...

(55%), the latter of which will use the funds for property tax relief, economic development and tourism, and the horse racing industry. Revenue from table games goes to the state's general fund and the local government. Presque Isle Downs & Casino now operates table games, along with 1,600 slot machines. On February 6, 2019, the

Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is a governmental agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, founded in 2004 as the state licensing and the regulatory agency responsible for overseeing slot machines and casino gambling in the state. The ...

approved a

sports betting Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. The frequency of sports bet upon varies by culture, with the vast majority of bets being placed on association football, American football, basket ...

license for Presque Isle Downs & Casino. The casino will construct a

sportsbook In the United States, a sportsbook or a race and sports book (sometimes abbreviated as book) is a place where a gambler can wager on various sports competitions, including golf, football, basketball, baseball, ice hockey, soccer, horse racing, ...

and will also offer 50 self-betting kiosks. The BetAmerica self-betting kiosks began operation on August 9, 2019. On December 16, 2019, a three-day soft launch began for the BetAmerica online sportsbook. The full launch of the BetAmerica online sportsbook occurred on December 19, 2019. The property is located on off Exit 27 on

Interstate 90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...

in Summit Township.

Graded events

The following Graded events were held at Presque Isle Downs in 2019. Grade II *

Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes The Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes is a Grade II American Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares that are three years old or older, over a distance of furlongs on the all weather track held annually in September at Presque Isle Downs & ...

Blood Horse: 2011 Graded Stakes: 13 Fewer Than '10
/ref> ;Other Stakes *

Presque Isle Mile ''Beautiful Minds'' (french: Presque) is a 2021 French-Swiss comedy-drama film directed by Bernard Campan and Alexandre Jollien. Cast * Bernard Campan - Louis Caretti * Alexandre Jollien - Igor * Marie Benati - la prostituée * Marilyne Canto ...

Tom Ridge Stakes The Tom Ridge Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run at Presque Isle Downs in Erie, Pennsylvania. First run in 2007, it was originally known as the Tom Ridge Labor Day Stakes when it was run the first two years on Labor Day. The race is ...

* Satin and Lace Stakes * Karl Boyes Memorial Stakes * The HPBA Stakes * Fitz Dixon, JR. Memorial Juvenile Stakes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Presque Isle Downs and Casino Buildings and structures in Erie County, Pennsylvania Horse racing venues in Pennsylvania Sports venues in Pennsylvania Sports in Erie, Pennsylvania Casinos in Pennsylvania Sports venues completed in 2007 Tourist attractions in Erie County, Pennsylvania Churchill Downs Incorporated

History

Description

Graded events

See also

References

External links