gambling

An increase in race days in April 2026 led to bumps in both wagering and purses across the United States compared to April of 2025. The month saw 2,170 races (+2.99%) across 259 race days (+2.78%) which pushed wagering totals to $898,254,315 (+2.23%). Purses were also up, with paid purses jumping to $95,634,866 (+9.14%). Average wagering per race day dipped slightly to $3,468,163 (-0.53%) while field size also fell to 7.30 (-5.38%) and starts dropped to 15,837 (-2.55%). Year over year, available and paid purses remained in the green at...

TDN's Chief Correspondent Bill Finley is joined by Senior Contributing Editor Alan Carasso and Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack to handicap Saturday's GI Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. FINLEY: The Puma (Essential Quality) is Mage (Good Magic) 2.0. From the same team that won the GI Kentucky Derby in 2023 with Mage, The Puma is following the exact same pattern. He finished an improved second in the GI Curlin Florida Derby and now looks ready to take another step forward, one that can land him in the winner's circle Saturday...

TDN's Chief Correspondent Bill Finley is joined by Senior Contributing Editor Alan Carasso and Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack to handicap Friday's GI Longines Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. FINLEY: As a whole, this is not a particularly fast group, which is why the focus here is on horses who have cracked the 90 Beyer level. Note that the Beyer par for the Kentucky Oaks is a 94. 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Prom Queen (Quality Road) earned a 90 Beyer when winning the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks and...

TDN's Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack provides analysis for Saturday's GI Toyota Blue Grass S. at Keeneland, GI Santa Anita Derby and GII Wood Memorial S. at Aqueduct. All three offer 100-50-25-15-10 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. Last Saturday's Results - Commandment (Into Mischief) established himself as one of the leading contenders for the Kentucky Derby with a thrilling last-to-first victory at 9-5 in the GI Curlin Florida Derby. Blackout Time (Not This Time) sat the trip I was looking for just behind the leaders, but had...

When the details of Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were introduced, there was an unwelcome surprise for horseplayers as well as all gamblers. It included a provision whereby gamblers could only deduct 90% of their losses from their winnings. For example, if a gambler collected $100,000 in winning bets during a year while also losing $100,000, he or she would have to pay taxes on $10,000, even though no profit was actually made. The new law went into effect on Jan. 1. Unless something changes, when gamblers file their...

The worst part about my debut at the National Horseplayers Championship in Las Vegas 11 years ago wasn't picking 30 straight losers and finishing dead last. The worst part was agreeing to document the trip for the TDN, so the entire Thoroughbred world got to watch my horseplaying nightmare. Undeterred, I returned the following year to both the NHC and the pages of the TDN, redeeming myself with a 36th-place finish and collecting $11,200. Since then, I've posted two more in-the-money finishes in seven starts. As I celebrate my 10th...

After watching a bill she filed last July to restore a gambler's right to deduct 100% of losses from gambling winnings languish without consideration in the House Ways and Means Committee, U.S. Rep. Dina Titus of Nevada on Thursday initiated a discharge petition in an attempt to bypass committee action and force it to a vote before the full Congress. "My FAIR BET Act has been sitting in @WaysMeansCmte for eight months, despite commitments from @HouseGOP to restore the full gambling loss deduction," Titus wrote Feb. 12 in a posting...

The latest salvo in the fight over the legality of a suite of Racing On Demand slot machine-style pari-mutuel games that were removed from Santa Anita by state Department of Justice (DOJ) law enforcement officers Saturday afternoon was fired Tuesday by the track, which filed a writ of mandate against the DOJ in the Los Angeles Superior Court. There had been 26 such machines in total operating in the Santa Anita grandstand pavilion since last Thursday. They offered $1 bets and required gamblers to select the first three finishers of...

The 26 Racing on Demand slot machine-style parimutuel games—with distinct similarities to Historic Horse Racing—that were removed from Santa Anita by Department of Justice law enforcement officers Saturday afternoon will be destroyed after 30 days unless there's some intervening court action, according to a California Department of Justice "notice of intention to destroy machines and devices." The 30-day window began the day the notice was posted, which is dated January 17. The notice was provided by the CA DOJ in response to a series of questions by the TDN about...

Over the last few weeks, the TDN has asked "racing's best and brightest" to give predictions regarding what the state of the sport will be ten years from now. Considering that most of the responses came from industry insiders who derive their living from the sport and cannot afford for things to worsen, the responses were not that surprising. Many projected a rosy future for the sport. The same sport that has many problems, some of them that will be very difficult to solve. What was lacking in the series...

What will horse racing look like in 2036 from a horseplayer. I see TDN has had some of the major power brokers respond, most of whom didn't mention anything about the gamblers. Last I checked the racetrack ecosystem, maintenance/upkeep, improvements, purses, etc. are paid by takeout (which is a percent of handle bet, for the owners out there that I shockingly have found out a vast majority of don't know) and subsidies. I responded on my X account about the lack of horseplayer representation in this hypothetical racing question of...

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association has released a new campaign advocating for passage of a bill that would repeal a wagering tax as part of legislation passed by Congress earlier this year, the NTRA announced Tuesday. As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) signed into law July 4, there was a tax change regarding wagering losses--reducing the deduction from 100% to 90%. In response, Kentucky Rep. Andy Barr has introduced the WAGER Act (Winnings and Gains Expense Restoration Act), new legislation which would restore the deduction back...