Pennsylvania tracks allowed to continue racing

Pennsylvania’s racetracks will be allowed to continue holding live race cards despite an order issued Thursday night by Gov. Tom Wolf for many businesses to sharply curtail their activities to mitigate a resurgence of coronavirus cases in the state, according to a top state racing official.

Chris McErlean, the vice president of racing for Penn National Gaming Inc., which owns and operates two tracks in Pennsylvania, said that the governor’s office on Friday morning “clarified” that the order would not apply to live racing as long as racetracks barred the public from the grounds. As a result, Penn National Racecourse in Grantville plans to hold its six remaining race cards scheduled for this year, McErlean said.

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The order issued by Wolf on Thursday night required casinos in the state to shut down, along with a wide-ranging list of other businesses, through Jan. 4. All of the racetracks in Pennsylvania operate casinos, which provide rich subsidies to racing.

Parx racetrack outside Philadelphia is the only other Thoroughbred track operating right now in Pennsylvania. An official with the track said early Friday afternoon that the track plans to continue holding live race cards. Parx has nine scheduled race cards through the end of the year, running on a Monday through Wednesday schedule.

McErlean said that the order to shut down casinos could have impacts on Penn National’s ability to continue to operate if the order is extended beyond Jan. 4. Penn National’s parent company also operates The Meadows harness track, which will proceed with nine of its ten planned race cards through the end of the year, McErlean said.

“We’re hopeful this will only be a short-term closure of the casinos, but if it does extend beyond the Jan. 4 date we’ll have to re-evaluate what we’re doing,” McErlean said.

Prior to the order, Penn National was allowing customers into simulcast areas in its grandstand, with mask protocols in place, McErlean said. Patrons were prohibited from being on the track’s apron.

During the pandemic, nearly all wagering on Thoroughbred racing has been through account-wagering operations.