Harrisburg, PA — Hollywood Casino at The Meadows reported gains in all three categories of pari-mutuel handle in 2023 and said a recent online survey offered feedback on ways the track can continue growth in its live racing product.

Scott Lishia, director of racing at The Meadows, told the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission at its Jan. 30 meeting that handle on live racing on site increased 6 percent, wagering on incoming simulcast signals grew 4 percent, and export wagering on The Meadows signal grew 27 percent from the previous year.

“Hopefully this will continue,” Lishia said. “It was a very good year.”

Lishia said the January 2024 numbers were “holding strong” versus the same month in 2022 despite a few cancellations. Weather conditions led to formation of a “soft spot” on the racing surface in the homestretch, and he credited the track maintenance crew with getting it quickly repaired. In addition, snow led to the cancellation of the Friday (Jan. 19) program, but efforts by staff allowed the track to race the following day on an unscheduled Saturday.

“We’d like to send a big thank you out to everybody for that,” Lishia said.

The online survey, which was available for more than three weeks on various platforms including the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Association website, offered about 12 questions and requested yes or no answers regarding things such as wagering preferences, field size, use of a trailing horse to expand field size, and pari-mutuel takeout rates. Interestingly, roughly 150 people utilized the option to submit comments.

“It gave us some unique insight.” Lishia said. “It’s a start, and we’ll probably do more of these. Hopefully we can get information and use it for how we tailor our product.”

Meanwhile, Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania is preparing to begin its 2024 racing season Feb. 17 with training available Feb. 7-9, weather permitting, and qualifying races Feb. 12. Two longtime series, the Game of Claims and Bobby Weiss, will be featured from early March through the end of April.