wagering

In what is becoming a familiar trend for the sport of horse racing in North America, betting in 2024 declined by 3.35%. According to figures released Friday by Equibase, $11,265,210,514 was the all-sources yearly handle for 2024 for U.S. racing, down from 2023's total of $11,655,726,020. Handle was last up in 2021, but that was an outlier because those numbers were going up against 2020 figures when the pandemic shut down much of the sport. Prior to that, the last handle increase was in 2018. The more alarming trend is...

No industry gathering at which Thoroughbred executives discuss pricing issues is immune from the intertwined topic of death and taxes. In the pari-mutuel world, that means talking about takeout, or, more specifically, how the disparate fees that different classes of bettors must pay for the privilege of placing wagers are killing off smaller-scale casual horseplayers. A Wednesday panel discussion at the Global Symposium on Racing hosted by the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program in Tucson was the latest Thoroughbred confab at which the takeout issue got batted around...

Wagering on U.S. races was higher, and both available and paid purses saw increases when compared to a year ago in November, while the number of race days and races themselves saw an uptick during the month, according to information released by Equibase on Friday. Total wagering of $921,122,693 on races during the month represented a 1.18% increase over the same period from 2023, while available purses of almost $128 million were up by 3.93%. The figure of over $121 million for paid purses in November was up 3.94%. As...

A -1.57% decrease in races and -1.58% in total race days in October lead to declines across the board compared to the same month a year ago.  Wagering totaled $796,468,476, a -2.71% decrease over last year while purses were also down (-1.63% available and -2.44% paid) to match available wagering per race day (-1.16%). Looking at the year to date, while wagering is still down (-2.88%), both available and paid purses are in the green (+0.79% and +0.50% respectively). Race days and total races are both down year over year...

All-sources handle for the 10-race program on the first day of the 41st Breeders' Cup World Championships Nov. 1 at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club was $63,679,944, the second-highest handle for a Breeders' Cup Friday and the fourth consecutive year the Friday handle has topped $60 million. The Future Stars Friday card featured five Breeders' Cup races for 2-year-old horses, the seventh straight year the Breeders' Cup has carded all its juvenile races on the same day since the event expanded to its two-day format in 2007. Friday's on-track attendance...

Saturday marked the final day of Keeneland's 2024 Fall Meet which saw a season-record all-sources wagering total of $210 million boosted by record purse money that attracted full fields featuring the nation's top trainers, jockeys and horses. Jockey Tyler Gaffalione earned the leading rider title, his eighth overall, with 24 total wins while trainer Brad Cox led all trainers with 14 wins including a record six stakes wins during the meet. Godolphin was the meet's leading owner with four wins. "The Fall Meet was exceptional," said Keeneland President and CEO...

The Philadelphia Cup, the second event in a three-part National Thoroughbred League NTL Cup series, attracted a crowd of 4,260 to Parx Racing--doubling original estimates--and wagering of $1.6 million, 50% higher than originally forecast. Julius 'Dr. J.' Erving is a partner of the league and owner of its Philadelphia Stallions and was on hand for an exclusive meet-and-greet with more than a dozen Philadelphia sports legends. "This past weekend epitomizes why we formed the National Thoroughbred League," said Randall Lane, co-founder of the NTL. "Many of us grew up mesmerized...

Golden State Racing (GSR) has reached an agreement with The Stronach Group's (TSG) Xpressbet, allowing punters to be able to wager on Pleasanton through that particular ADW platform when racing resumes this Friday. GSR launched its inaugural 26-day Thoroughbred meet at Pleasanton Saturday, Oct. 19. But punters hoping to wager on its product through Xpressbet and the New York Racing Association's NYRA Bets were shut out--a scenario stemming from a disagreement over the fees that form a key part of a track's purses and revenues. Similarly, Elite Turf Club players...

Golden State Racing launched Saturday its inaugural 26-day Thoroughbred meet at Pleasanton. But punters hoping to wager on its product through two popular ADW platforms are currently shut out--a scenario stemming from a disagreement over the fees that form a key part of a track's purses and revenues. Currently, neither The Stronach Group's (TSG) ADW platform Xpressbet nor the New York Racing Association's NYRA Bets include Pleasanton in their racing menus. Similarly, Elite Turf Club players are also unable to play on the Pleasanton product. Owned by TSG and NYRA,...

The 2024 racing season at Hastings Racecourse wrapped up Oct. 13 with average wagering per race increasing 7.8%. Total wagering for the season of $21,531,203 showed a 4% decline from last year, primarily due to one fewer racing day and 36 fewer races in 2024. "We were quite pleased with some of the increases and progress we saw this year," said Dawn Lupul, Manager of Racing and Communications at BC Racebook. "We made some changes to the schedule with the addition of Friday nights and were on FanDuel TV on...

Calling extreme odds changes the "Achilles heel of pari-mutuel wagering," Michael Fitzsimons, the Hong Kong Jockey Club's executive director of racing products, recently sold the audience at the Asian Racing Conference on a plan to standardize global access to the World Pool by sophisticated computer teams. "For the first time, we are proposing this year to work on the World Pool professional hubs, where we come together with operators to agree to the rules and through our smart contracts technology, we will enforce these rules no matter where the professional...

This year's Woodbine's Turf Champions Day, held Saturday, Sept. 14, saw a 9 percent increase in total wagering from last year. The all-sources handle for the day, which was headlined by the GI Rogers Woodbine Mile and a trio of Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' races, was $13,339,206, up from last year's $12.1 million. The $13.3 million handle is also the second highest ever for a Woodbine Mile card. Additionally, wagering in the local Ontario area also saw an 8.9 percent increase from the previous year and a strong...