I enjoyed the first day of March Madness – the NCAA men’s basketball tournament – in the sports betting area at a casino in southwest Indiana.
Since many of my friends are also racing fans, we were surprised to learn that while we could bet on any college basketball game of the day, NBA games or close to Like every other sport, racing is not available for betting. While an entire group of us bet on basketball games, a smaller number gathered around our phones to watch and bet on races from Oaklawn Park.
On this day, racing missed an opportunity for the racing fans in our group to engage the basketball fans in our group as we placed some bets on the race thoroughbred. And while in this column I usually advocate for fixed-odds betting in racing—which would be great—in this case just pari-mutuel betting and a racing-specific TV or two The car will create great opportunities for this sport.
As the numbers have made abundantly clear in recent months and years, the number of racing days is decreasing. It’s time for racetracks, horsemen, pre-stake betting platforms, racing channels, shipping companies and content managers to sit down and figure out how to market the racing we have to the people. (And if this effort is successful, it’s also the best way to increase the number of race days.)
Bettors largely favor the available product, as the decline in total bets is usually not as severe as the reduction in the number of racing days. This has resulted in the average bet per race day actually being flat in recent quarters, including the first quarter of 2024, where the average bet per race day has increased 4.75% to 3,439 .724 USD.
The total number of U.S. races held in 2023, 31,746, is down 13% from 2018. When compared to the previous five years, the handle is actually up 3.4%, but the concern is profits achieved during the COVID years seem to be gone. down 4.6% since 2021. While the drop in grips is not as severe as the drop in racing, it seems a reasonable goal for the sport’s leaders to find a way for bettors to Bettors at least maintain their bet level on the product available.
To achieve that goal, industry factions will have to work together. Unfortunately, that kind of collaboration often avoids competition, but it will likely be necessary to bring about some of the ideas I’ll list below — not to mention any better ideas they have. can think of when working together.
- As sports betting grows, it is important for racing to take advantage of new opportunities. While fixed odds betting on racing through mobile platforms hasn’t made much progress, it’s encouraging to see giants like FanDuel and DraftKings offering some synergy with the platform. their pari-mutuel platform and promote race betting. Racing needs to continue that and build on it.
- As noted above, racing also needs to be transferred to all new brick-and-mortar outlets that offer sports betting. The case I mentioned above may shock those at the top of the race. One advantage of participating in all of these outlets is that every time they market and bettors come to bet on the Super Bowl or the NCAA tournament, the races have a chance to attract some attention. idea. Racing needs to be offered in all of these emerging outlets.
- While we all regret that the number of racing days has been reduced, there is certainly still an opportunity to market this shortened sport. With fewer race days, arranging race start times is easier than ever. In addition to coordinating signals to prevent races from starting at the same time, tracks should also look at staggered days to put some action on each day of the week and consider opportunities like racing in the morning or racing late at night. Customers have different schedules and perhaps racing can create a connection there.
- Regional cooperation and more—think California and working with that important racing state—has the potential to improve field size at our tracks. Studies have documented that races with larger fields produce greater handling.
- If the industry wants to increase betting in existing directions, it will again need to invest in its IT and pockets, especially if the industry does not accept fixed rate betting. In addition to improved integrity and reliability, an improved tote can do things like offer will payouts on exact over bets and double down to include pick 3s, sets triples, pick 4s, supers etc. At larger tracks, perhaps it could allow bettors to choose their own pick 3 or pick 4…playing any three or four races on the card which bettors prefer as pick 3. There will be more opportunities for multi-track betting.
In short, an innovative bag could provide information that would make existing racing more attractive to equestrians.
- Another idea, and I suspect an innovative bag would also be needed to make this a reality, is to offer a fluctuating takeout service. This could be based on race days—perhaps bettors betting Monday to Wednesday will see reduced odds—or on field size—larger fields will have higher stakes for betting while smaller courses will have reduced stakes. Bettors more interested in taking away will have their chance on certain days of the week. Larger field sizes provide better betting products, making it easier for players to accept higher odds.
These are the kinds of innovations needed to make the racing we actually do more attractive. As we start to see overall betting levels improve despite the reduced number of racing days, that will be a likely trend of increased racing days. Change is needed to turn the situation around; it’s not just imminent.
