Hollywood Park Wagering Declines Slightly; Attendance Down 6.6%

Edited press release
Hollywood Park, saving its best for last, closed its 64-day spring/summer meet Sunday with total common pool wagering of $667,016,796, down less than one-half percent from the figure of $679,693,206 during a 65-day meet a ago. The daily average was $10.42 million, compared to $10.45 million in 2004.

On-track business declined as the daily handle of $1,733,157 was down 1% and the daily attendance average of 7,801 was down 6.6% from 2004.

Purses averaged $432,078, up 4.8% from the figure of $412,350 in 2004. The average field size of 7.7 was down 3.8% from 2004.

"We're obviously concerned about the decline in on-track attendance, but we had six Fridays without concerts this year and for the first time in four years we did not have a horse shooting for the Triple Crown on Belmont Day," said Hollywood Park president Rick Baedeker. "Our big events did give handle a boost. We were up six percent the final three weeks of the meet."

Advance deposit wagering (ADW) increased by 9.2% to a record $49,648,778, compared to $46,155,279 in 2004. A record $1.8 million in ADW was wagered on American Oaks Day.