Despite all the hype surrounding Churchill’s supposed success Saturday, Equibase reports that in the first four months of 2024, total wagering on U.S. races fell 6.1% compared to the same period last year. April alone was down over 11% from April ’23. And, both the number of racedays and the number of races have also declined. Progress.
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Since we have a combined 75+ years experience on both the east coast & west coast we like to share with others what we have seen & experienced. Our recent experience is here on the west cost spanning from 1978 to 2004 when we were active at tracks & private farms.
I can’t help but think that this person doing 47% of the wagering handle is getting paid to do what he’s doing and for a reason.
I always value your great insights fredjoan!
I have seen several of the race replays. I think CDI is very lucky that the horses had no major breakdowns. Many of the horses we saw especially towards the end of a race were not traveling well. Also noticed that the actual MPH speeds of the races were faster in the beginning of the card than towards the later races run later. Wonder if the stewards told the riders to slow the paces down some to avoid having another breakdown on live TV. Sometimes my old R/D/T algebraic mathematics formulas come in handy I learned at university. Have to view the enemy to see what`s going on. That`s the only reason we view races at times. Never for credit for views by provider.
They don’t care if one person or a million place bets that make them look good. The talking heads were also capitalizing on the fact there were no accidents to report.
Back when I was wagering on the races daily, I did know of some HUGE bettors- the casinos often liked to [and still do] refer to them as ‘whales’ – who would receive large rebates on their ‘action’ – sometimes enough to show a yearly profit even if they only won sporadically. The rebates would often be enough allow them a 5% return on their investment. So that’s a $250,000 profit if your wagered five million a year. Keep in mind that if you won a few races, and you re-bet the money you just won, you really don’t’ need to be carrying around $5 mil – but the profit – and the rebates- would still be there, and each bet, considered ‘fresh money’ would be counted as such.
For the record, I bet a lot – and daily – but not nearly that much. Also, I never used offshore accounts.
But most importantly here, is that if this is all true, Del Mar’s 2023 handle is a HORROR without this guy who is supporting 47% of the wagering. Clearly, this is a positive indication the general public is rapidly losing interest in betting on horse racing.
-Joe
I am glad the takeout is down, but I was surprised to learn that only ONE person – a CAW (Computer Assisted Wagering) Player – was responsible for 47% of the TOTAL WAGERS placed at Del Mar racetrack in 2023. Just one player made up almost HALF the handle. It is not about the amount bet, the casino owns the CAWS – they are betting against themselves, it is about how much is bet by regular players that make it back into the purses – that finance the game itself. The CAW’s lower the purses by design. Churchill Downs took in just under $200 million dollars and it is entirely possible Elite 17 – just one player – made over $90 million dollars of those bets single handedly using a computer to offset the payouts of the other players. In 2023 Mattress Mack – a member of the Jockey Club – ALONE BET – $1.2 million which according to chrom.com was enough to change the odds/payouts of the Kentucky Derby 2023. Imagine how much $100 million could change it – if Elite 17 were to stake a bet? XOXO