What kind of venue Tioga Downs is
The site has been a racetrack for half a century. It opened in 1976 as Tioga Park, a quarter horse track, and was rebuilt as a five-eighths-mile harness oval before reopening in June 2006 with more than 800 video lottery terminals. Jeff Gural, who also runs the Meadowlands in New Jersey, controls it through American Racing & Entertainment.
The change that set Tioga Downs apart came in October 2015. New York’s Gaming Facility Location Board, which had first passed over the application, reversed course and awarded a commercial casino license for the Southern Tier. The expanded building opened in December 2016, and the hotel followed in 2017, giving the property its current casino resort shape.
Harness racing at Tioga Downs
Live racing runs from May to September on the five-eighths-mile oval, which gives horses a longer stretch and wider turns than the half-mile tracks common in New York. In past seasons the track has raced on Friday and Saturday evenings with Sunday afternoon cards at 1 p.m. in high summer, so check the posted calendar before driving in.
The stakes program is the draw for serious fans. The track lists the Reynolds Memorial on the Grand Circuit, the Empire Breeders Classic and New York Sire Stakes races among its features, and the big Sunday cards have carried Grand Circuit trots such as the Crawford Farms Open. The 2026 season has wrapped up, with racing due back in 2027.
Betting follows the standard pari-mutuel model: wagers go into pools, the track takes its posted takeout, and the remainder is shared among winning tickets. Win, place and show sit alongside exotics such as the exacta and trifecta. Our pari-mutuel betting guide explains the pools, and the track offers a free Racing College handout for beginners.
Inside the Tioga Downs casino
The gaming floor holds roughly 900 slot machines and electronic table games, according to the state gaming commission’s quarterly figures for 2026. Because this is a commercial casino rather than a lottery facility, the machines are true slots instead of video lottery terminals. Our video lottery terminals explainer covers the difference that most other New York racinos still operate under.
Twenty-nine live table games sit next to the Sideshow Lounge, among them blackjack paying 3 to 2, craps, roulette, pai gow, mini baccarat and Mississippi Stud. The casino poker room deals hold’em, Omaha and stud from Wednesday to Sunday, with tournaments on the schedule. The floor is open daily from 9 a.m. to 3 a.m.
Hotel, spa and golf
The hotel at Tioga Downs is entirely non-smoking, and many of its rooms look straight across the racetrack. Packages bundle a room with dining and play. The Serenity Spa offers massages, facials and nail treatments, while the outdoor heated saltwater pool, hot tub and water slide open in summer. Breakfast is served daily at the County Fair Buffet.
Golfers have their own reason to stay. The Tioga Golf Club is an 18-hole course open to the public, with seasonal memberships, leagues and tournaments, a clubhouse, a pro shop and Divots Bar & Grill. The resort also runs an RV parking area, which suits visitors who come for a whole racing weekend rather than a single evening.
Getting there and nearby racinos
Nichols lies in Tioga County, on the Susquehanna River just north of the Pennsylvania border and west of Binghamton, with Interstate 86 close by. Valet parking costs $8, with discounts for accessible parking and free valet for top-tier rewards members. Sister track Vernon Downs is about two hours northeast near Utica.
Thoroughbred fans can head north to Finger Lakes near Rochester, which races early in the week through the spring, summer and autumn. The New York racinos overview lists every track in the state with its racing breed and gaming type, and our racinos near me finder covers venues across the border in Pennsylvania too.