Purses for U.S. races continued their positive trend in November, while wagering handle ticked down to essentially put the year's betting numbers on par with 2021's figures heading into 2022's final month, according to economic indicator figures released by Equibase Monday.
A total of $918,196,787 was bet on U.S. races in November, a 4.47% decrease from the $961,166,113 wagered in November 2021. For the year, $11,360,902,118 has been bet, just a .4% drop from the $11,406,643,956 wagered through 11 months in 2021. This year's total still represents an 11.7% increase from the number through November in 2020.
Purses totaled $123,469,492 this November, a 4.91% improvement from the $117,688,125 paid out in November 2021. For the year, purses have totaled $1,226,689,699, a healthy 10.91% jump from the $1,106,062,847 from November 2021. Compared to the COVID-affected year of 2020, purses are up an overwhelming 51.03% in 2022.
For the year, average field size in American racing is 7.26, a slight .93% drop from 7.33 in 2021 and an 8.19% decrease from 7.91 in 2020.
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