In our spotlight on Business Report tonight, an end of an era and a blow to the horse racing industry.

On Saturday, after 170 years, new Jersey's oldest racetrack will shut down for good despite desperately trying to stay afloat.

Freehold Raceway will host 11 last races tomorrow before closing its doors permanently.

The site is just one of nearly 50 other racetracks around the country that have closed in the last few decades as interest in the sport declines and the popularity of other sports betting takes hold.

But the raceway has been a mainstay of the freehold community since it opened in 1854, and its closure could signal something larger.

For more on that, I'm joined by Steve Edelson.

He's the New Jersey sports columnist for the USA Today Network.

Steve, great to talk to you.

In the pieces you wrote leading up to this, you spoke with quite a few long time trainers, horsemen, the like.

What's the overall sentiment right now in the community about this closure?

Well, I think there's a lot of sadness and there's a lot of uncertainty because there are so many lives that are impacted by it, so many families locally, you know, whether you work directly at the racetrack or you were kind of an ancillary employee or a horseman who, you know, has a farm and whose horses run there.

So I think really the ripple effects are so far reaching through the community.

I think it's that uncertainty that everyone is trying to deal with right now.

Is this closure a reflection of sort of a broader trend that we're seeing?

I mean, a couple of our folks have been working on a piece.

They found that that, you know, handles that freehold anyway, dropped from over 5 million in 2018 to, you know, just over 2.8 million last year.

So a significant decline.

Is that something that we're seeing industry wide?

Is this sort of the canary?

Yeah, I mean, that certainly is.

There's there's so much competition for the betting dollar these days.

That racetrack handle wagering at racetracks has gone really down precipitously over the last two decades.

And I think freehold is just kind of the latest domino to fall.

Unfortunately.

There are nearly 50 racetracks have closed nationally since 2000, and this is the third New Jersey racetrack to close since 2001.

So it really is an industry trend and and betting is down everywhere.

Is it, Steve?

I mean, is some of that have to do with the rise of of online gambling?

There was also the casino debate that played into this closure or is all of that just pieces of a much larger puzzle?

Well, in the freehold case, I think it's all pieces of it.

There were owners f.r park racing.

They had a 25 year plan to try and secure a casino in New Jersey.

You know, I think they miscalculated how strong, you know, the Atlantic City ties are in Trenton and that is not going to happen.

And they're kind of giving up on that a dream.

But I think, yes, you know, sports betting has come online and last year, sports betting nationally, how to handle a $120 billion.

That's a big piece of the of the gambling pie.

And so it's a complicated relationship with the racetrack because the racetracks have a sportsbook.

And I think the operators of Monmouth Park in the Meadowlands will tell you sports betting is why they're open to revenues from that.

But yet sports betting is also taking a big piece of of the gambling dollars as well.

Yeah, it's a catch 22 there.

I wonder then what could the state, if anything, do to better support those tracks?

Monmouth Meadowlands like you just mentioned, you know, that are remaining?

Well, you know, it's interesting because Freehold announced it was closing seven days after Governor Murphy signed legislation that would extend the $20 million annual purse subsidies for the racing industry through 2029.

So I think it's a fair question to wonder, are they really working?

But that is one way that certainly the state has stepped up to try and help the racing industry.

You know, they have also approved development at Monmouth Park, 80 acres of state owned land there in an attempt to provide a long term revenue stream for Monmouth Park to keep that alive.

So there are certain things they're doing, but I think there's only so much in this economic climate they're going to be able to do.

So then, I mean, based off of that, based off of all the reporting you've done, do you think that there's space for revitalization of this industry or are we headed toward a permanent decline?

Well, I think it certainly is going in this direction.

It doesn't seem to be reversing anywhere.

I think in terms of freehold, there are options on the table in terms of redevelopment that would include horse racing.

But while they have a nice vision for that, you need money and we'll see if anybody steps up.

But I'm certain that, you know, developers in terms of housing and retail are going to be very interested in the property.

170 years comes to a close tomorrow.

Steve Edelson, thank you so much.

Thank you.