The Maryland Jockey Club concluded the 2008 racing season with double-digit declines in total handle and average daily handle compared with 2007.

Last year’s all-sources handle at Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course was $668.1-million, a 23.7% decrease compared with $875.8-million in 2007. While conducting 14 fewer days of live racing in 2008, the average daily handle decreased 22.7%, from $3.79-million last year to $2.93-million in 2007.

Wagering figures for the 17-week Laurel Park fall meeting declined 39.1% compared with 2007. Handle figures for the Laurel winter and Pimlico Race Course spring meetings declined 17% and 16% respectively.

A crowd of 112,222 packed Pimlico on May 17, 2008, to see Big Brown win the Preakness Stakes (G1), the second leg of the Triple Crown. Attendance figures for Preakness day have topped six-figures in nine of the previous ten years, including eight straight.

Preakness day wagering topped $73-million, the fifth largest total in the 133-year history of the race.

Last November, Maryland voters approved a state constitutional amendment that authorizes the General Assembly to issue licenses for the installation and operation of up to 15,000 video lottery terminals at five locations. Laurel Park is a potential site for 4,750 machines that will be located in Anne Arundel County, and the Maryland Jockey Club plans to apply for a license.

“The passage of the slots referendum gives us hope that we will be able to turn the table in the near future,” Maryland Jockey Club President Tom Chuckas said. “Our goal is to move forward and grow the business. We want to expand the hospitality, with racing as the key ingredient, and get people interested in coming back to the track.”