Saratoga Casino and Raceway

Saratoga Casino and Raceway (formerly Saratoga Gaming and Raceway) is a ¹⁄₂-mile standardbred race track and racino located in Saratoga Springs, New York. Saratoga Casino and Raceway is not to be confused with the historic Saratoga Race Course, whose race track and backstretch stables are across the street from the stables of the raceway.

Facility

Saratoga Casino and Raceway has three entrances: A primary entrance on Jefferson Street, where the Saratoga Harness Hall of Fame is located, a secondary entrance on Crescent Avenue, and a third entrance on Nelson Avenue, just north of its intersection with Crescent Avenue. The Casino and Raceway is located on the southeastern tip of Saratoga Springs. First opened in 1941 as a harness racing track, the facility was expanded in 2004 to include video lottery gaming terminals, or VLT as they are officially called.

The track is a ¹⁄₂-mile oval, where horses do two laps to complete the commonly used 1-mile (1.6 km) distance used in U.S. standardbred races. Because of the landscaping present in the infield and the country feel, the track has been dubbed "The most beautiful ¹⁄₂-mile track in the country. For some time, an expansion of the track to a ⁵⁄₈-mile oval was being discussed, but it never came into fruition, and no further discussion about an expansion to the track's oval has come up in the last 5 years.

Saratoga

Saratoga may refer to:

Places

Australia

United States

Casino

In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. The industry that deals in casinos is called the gaming industry. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions. There is much debate over whether or not the social and economic consequences of casino gambling outweigh the initial revenue that may be generated. In the United States, some states that have high unemployment and budget deficits have turned to legalizing casinos, often in places that are not tourist destinations. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertainment events, such as stand-up comedy, concerts, and sporting events.

Etymology and usage

The term "casino" is a confusing linguistic false friend for translators.

Casino is of Italian origin; the root casa (house) originally meant a small country villa, summerhouse, or social club. During the 19th century, the term casino came to include other public buildings where pleasurable activities took place; such edifices were usually built on the grounds of a larger Italian villa or palazzo, and were used to host civic town functions, including dancing, gambling, music listening, and sports; examples in Italy include Villa Farnese and Villa Giulia, and in the US the Newport Casino in Newport, Rhode Island. In modern-day Italian, the term casino designates a bordello (also called casa chiusa, literally "closed house"), while the gambling house is spelled casinò with an accent.

Saratoga Springs, New York

Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States, that is also widely known as simply Saratoga (though not to be confused with the nearby town of that name). The population was 26,586 at the 2010 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area, which has made Saratoga a popular resort destination for over 200 years. The city is just north of Albany in the heart of New York's Capital Region.

Saratoga Springs was ranked tenth in the list of the top 10 places to live in New York State for 2014 according to the national online real estate brokerage Movoto.

History

The picturesque area was occupied by the Algonquian-speaking Mahican Indians before they were pushed out by European settlement, both Dutch and English colonists. They eventually moved east and became allied with other remnant peoples and became known as the Stockbridge Indians, as they settled near Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

The English built Fort Saratoga in 1691 on the west bank of the Hudson River. The current village of Schuylerville was settled about a mile south by English colonists shortly after the fort; it was known as Saratoga until 1831. In 1767, William Johnson, a British soldier who was a hero of the French and Indian War, was brought by Native American friends to springs about 10 miles (16 km) west of the village. They treated his war wounds, as the spring was thought to have medicinal properties. Now known as High Rock Spring, it may still be visited today. In 1756 Johnson had been appointed British Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Northeast region due to his success in building alliances with the Mohawk and other Iroquois tribes. He had learned the language, and created many trading relationships. He achieved great wealth from trading and landholdings, and was knighted for his service to the Crown with the Iroquois.

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern United States and is the United States' 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. The state has a maritime border in the Atlantic Ocean with Rhode Island, east of Long Island, as well as an international border with the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the north and Ontario to the west and north. The state of New York, with an estimated 19.8 million residents in 2015, is often referred to as New York State to distinguish it from New York City, the state's most populous city and its economic hub.

With an estimated population of nearly 8.5 million in 2014, New York City is the most populous city in the United States and the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States. The New York City Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City is a global city, exerting a significant impact upon commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment, its fast pace defining the term New York minute. The home of the United Nations Headquarters, New York City is an important center for international diplomacy and has been described as the cultural and financial capital of the world, as well as the world's most economically powerful city. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State. Two-thirds of the state's population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% live on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th century Duke of York, future King James II of England. The next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany.