How the Harrington casino grew out of a fair
The oval was laid out for a county fair in 1920, and pari-mutuel racing followed in 1946. Fifty years later the 1994 Horse Racing Redevelopment Act opened the door to video lottery, and on August 20, 1996 Midway Slots and Racebook started with 500 machines, the last of Delaware’s three track casinos to open.
Expansion followed quickly. A 2008 build-out pushed the machine count past 2,000 for a time, table games arrived in 2010, and the 2007 rebranding to Harrington Raceway & Casino put the track back in the name. The Harrington casino even closed for four days at the end of 2022 because of technical problems, reopening on December 31 that year.
Harrington Raceway and its 2026 meet
The raceway is a half-mile harness oval, so fields go around twice in a mile and post position matters more than at the 5/8-mile track in Dover. The 2026 meet opened on April 13 after qualifiers on April 7, racing mostly Monday through Wednesday with a 4:30 p.m. first post, under race secretary Kevin Mack.
| 2026 period | What runs |
|---|---|
| April 13 to July 8 | Spring meet, mostly Monday to Wednesday, 4:30 p.m. |
| July 23 | Delaware State Fair program, 7 p.m. post |
| August 17 to October 21 | Summer and fall meet |
The fair program is the raceway’s showcase. Governor’s Day during the Delaware State Fair carries the year’s largest purses for Delaware-bred horses, and the Delaware Standardbred Breeders Fund finals draw the best young horses; Hawaiian Warfare won the latest $110,000 final for two-year-old pacing colts. The track’s site posts free programs, replays and a guide to pari-mutuel wagers.
Slots, tables and the sportsbook
The casino site lists more than 1,300 slot machines, from one cent to $25, and Delaware Lottery counted 1,321 video lottery terminals at the property in June 2026. Those machines are lottery-run, part of a statewide system described on the video lottery terminals page, and Harrington produced about $102.9 million of the state’s net proceeds in fiscal 2026.
The Harrington casino pit covers blackjack, Spanish 21, craps, roulette and carnival games such as In Bet, Three Card, Four Card Fever, Extreme Hold’em and Louisiana Stud. The poker room sits apart. The sports book takes bets on football, baseball, basketball and hockey, and simulcast covers other tracks. A small share of every machine’s net goes to horsemen’s purses.
Harrington casino restaurants
Six food outlets sit inside the Harrington casino. Bonz is the dressed-up choice, with steaks, seafood and wine, next to the Bonz Lounge and patio. Onion Jack’s is the full-service family room. Bolo’s carves sandwiches to order, and Grab & Go handles pizza, sandwiches and sweets for players who do not want to leave a machine.
- Bonz: steaks, seafood and wine
- Onion Jack’s: steaks, seafood and comfort food
- Bolo’s: freshly carved sandwiches
- Grab & Go: pizza, sandwiches, desserts
- Murphy’s Sports Bar: wings, nachos, big screens
- Clubhouse: trackside dining with betting stations
Murphy’s Sports Bar is the place for a game on the big screens, with its house nachos and Raceway Wings, while the Clubhouse seats diners above the track with betting stations at hand, the most useful of these restaurants on a live racing night. The buffet, closed since the pandemic, has not reopened.
Shows and the State Fair
The Gold Room hosts live shows most weekends, with tickets usually priced between about $20 and $30. The autumn 2026 schedule includes a rock tribute show on October 17, Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes on October 31, a country tribute on November 7 and several comedy nights. The Bonz Lounge adds free live music on Friday and Saturday nights.
The Delaware State Fair takes over the grounds each July, bringing grandstand concerts, livestock barns and the fair’s racing program. The casino also runs the Mid-Del Foundation for local giving. Visitors who come for the fair can walk to the casino, though only guests aged 21 and over may enter the gaming floor.
Getting to Harrington and nearby racinos
The address is 18500 South DuPont Highway, on U.S. Route 13 just south of Harrington town, with parking on the fairgrounds. Dover and Bally’s Dover are about 16 miles north. Heading south, Ocean Downs near Ocean City, Maryland, runs its own summer harness meet, and the Delaware racinos page explains how the three Delaware tracks share purse money.