With the majority of U.S. tracks unable to race in April, total pari-mutuel handle during the month fell by 24.42%. Bettors wagered $639 million during the month after wagering $845 million during April 2019. The numbers were provided by Equibase.
It has been a roller coaster year for betting on U.S. racing. After posting an 11.8% increase over the months of January and February, handle fell by 22.8% in March when most tracks were forced to close. For most of April, there were only five Thoroughbred tracks racing, but several are set to reopen this month. That should mean that May figures will show a sharp rebound. For the year, handle is off 6.87%.
The coronavirus shutdowns also caused purses to fall sharply during the month. After $85.9 million was paid out in 2019, total purses paid out last April were just $17.4 million. That represents a 79.64% decrease, a decline that reflects how few races were run during April. The five open racetracks–Tampa Bay Downs, Gulfstream Park, Fonner Park, Will Rogers and Oaklawn–ran a total of 746 races, down from 2,612 in April, 2019. For the year, purses are down 28.85%.
With so little competition for the betting dollar, the tracks that did run saw record handle numbers, including the $41 million wagered at Oaklawn Park on the day of the GI Arkansas Derby. Entering this year, Oaklawn's record daily handle had been just $16 million. Those numbers helped inflate the figure for the average amount wagered per card. That went from$2.7 million in 2019 to $7.5 million in April, 2020 for an increase of 176%.
The lack of opportunities to race also helped the tracks that were open bolster their fields. The average field size last month was 9.13. In April 2019, the number was 7.55.
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