wagering

The FanDuel Meet at Kentucky Downs wrapped up Sunday with a nearly 24% rise in handle from the same period last year. A total of $74,088,532 was wagered via all-sources handle, up $14,260,088 (or 23.8%) from last year's total of $59,828,444, which was also a record at the time. Sunday's card of 10 races saw a handle of $13,899,277, third-highest at the all-turf track. Saturday's wagering of $20,849,967 on 11 races set a new mark for one day of racing at Kentucky Downs. The big story of the six-day meet...

Wagering essentially stayed the same in July compared to the same month from 2020 while still showing marked improvement over corresponding 2019 numbers, according to the latest economic indicators released by Equibase. Purses continued to rise over last year's pandemic-affected levels and eclipsed 2019 numbers for July. Overall, $1,101,617,446 was wagered on U.S. races in July 2021, compared to $1,098,021,143 in 2020, a slight uptick of 0.33%. In July of 2019, $942,243,633 was wagered, making last month's numbers a 16.91% increase over that figure. With the number of race days...

Cards from Racecourse Media Group's 34 British racecourses and 26 Irish racecourses will now be available to bettors in India through a new agreement between RMG and the Royal Calcutta Turf Club (RCTC). RMG's partnership with SIS makes the wagering possible, and content will be shown live for pari-mutuel (tote) betting and can be accessed via www.betindiaraces.com for mobile and web users. Harish Ramchandani, Steward at the Royal Calcutta Turf Club, said, "The Royal Calcutta Turf Club, one of the oldest race clubs in the world, is delighted to work...

Colonial Downs kicked off its 2021 racing season Monday with a record opening day handle of $2.66 million, spurred by a four-pack of $100,000 Virginia-restricted turf stakes races, and the return of fans to the New Kent track now in its third year under ownership of the Colonial Downs Group. "We would like to thank the horsemen, our fans on and off site and our team for starting the meet on the right foot," said John Marshall, Executive VP Operations for the Colonial Downs Group. "What a delight it was...

The New York Racing Association (NYRA) and Monmouth Park will partner for an all-graded $0.20 Pick 6 Saturday, July 17. The wager will feature 15% takeout and mandatory payout. Saturday's included races are Saratoga's GI Diana S. and GIII Sanford S., in addition to Monmouth's GI TVG.com Haskell S., GI United Nations S., GIII Monmouth Cup S., and GIII Molly Pitcher S. NYRA is also offering a cross-breed Cross Country Pick 5 Saturday in partnership with the Meadowlands, New Jersey's harness track.

Wagering on U.S. races has dipped slightly from $998,331,984 in 2020 to $993,147,243 this season, according to the Thoroughbred Racing Economic Indicators released by Equibase Tuesday. The drop represents a 0.52% change over a year ago. Conversely, wagering rose 0.22% from pre-COVID-19 figures in 2019 when $990,923,384 was wagering during the month of June. In 2021, purses rose 49.17% to $103,624,634 from last year as did race days which increased to 437 from 300 in 2020. Purse figures for the comparable time frame in 2019 were $115,194,83, with 499 race...

As handicappers and racing enthusiasts across America prepare to dive into this week's sensational Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, keep this in mind: Where you bet matters. It took 25-plus years of horse ownership and a $2.4-million wager for me to fully appreciate the huge difference it makes where a bet is placed. It was a wake-up call for me, and it should be for you. Everyone in horse racing whenever possible should put their money through the windows or self-bet machines at the racetrack. If you're like I was, you've...

NYRA Bets, the advance deposit wagering (ADW) platform of the New York Racing Association (NYRA), has partnered with BetMGM, a sports betting and digital gaming entertainment company. NYRA Bets is the first horse racing partner of BetMGM, which is affiliated with MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) and has exclusive access to all of MGM's U.S. land-based and online sports betting, major tournament poker, and online gaming businesses. With the partnership, BetMGM customers will be able to watch and wager on Thoroughbred, harness, and Quarter Horse races at over 200 tracks...

The upcoming Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, to be held June 3-5, will include a selection of six two-day special wagers, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) announced Saturday. Headlined by the GI Belmont S. presented by NYRA Bets on Saturday, June 5, the three-day festival will include 17 stakes races, with eight Grade I contests on Belmont Day. The two-day Pick 6 begins Friday, June 4, with the GIII True North S. and concludes with the Saturday, June 5 Belmont S. It will feature 15% takeout and a $0.20 base...

   This is Part 7 of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's (TIF) series "Wagering Insecurity."    Faced with remarkable competitive pressure from the rise of legal sports betting, horse racing is at a crossroads.    Confidence amongst horseplayers and horse owners is essential to the future sustainability of the sport. Efforts to improve the greater North American Thoroughbred industry will fall flat if its stakeholders fail to secure a foundation of integrity, along with increased transparency of the wagering business and its participants over time. Achieving this is growing increasingly difficult...

TVG has unveiled significant improvements to its wagering app (available for both Apple and Android) and has added on-demand GI Kentucky Derby-related content to its OTT WatchTVG app (for Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV). "Our team is always looking at ways to improve the wagering experience for TVG customers and to reinvest in technology upgrades to improve the customer experience and make it easier for new fans," said Kip Levin, CEO of TVG. "These enhanced wagering and handicapping features on our mobile app are the latest example of...

The 15-day Spring meet at Keeneland Race Course concluded Friday, with total all-sources wagering reaching $164,680,229, an improvement of 7.55% versus the 2019 Spring meet, when all-sources handle totaled $153,116,119. The 2020 Spring meet was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Average daily wagering on the Keeneland product was $10,978,682, an increase of 14.72 when compared to $9,569,757 during Spring 2019. A limited number of patrons were allowed on track during the 15-day stand. Attendance totaled 96,243 for a daily average of 6,416. With four winners on Friday's closing-day program,...