Fixed-Odds Horse Racing Wagering Debuts in Colorado

Fixed-odds horse racing wagering has been approved in Colorado. The deal was forged between SIS Content Services, part of the SIS (Sports Information Services) Group, and long-time operator partner bet365 to deliver its global horse racing content to bettors in Colorado.

The approval of horse racing fixed-odds wagering on Colorado sportsbooks is intended to attract a wider range of casual bettors, who will be offered the same type of betting as all other sports.

SIS offers a horse racing vast portfolio of international and domestic events, including the upcoming Saudi Cup Day Feb. 24 and Dubai World Cup meeting Mar. 30. Additionally, year-round racing is available from 14 countries, including Ireland, Australia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and the United States.

“This is a great first step in expanding the horse racing audience and I commend the Colorado horse racing stakeholders, Colorado Division of Gaming and bet365 for their vision and support,” said Michele Fischer, Vice President, SIS Content Services. “Horse racing provides sportsbooks with exciting year-round 24/7 content throughout the world. It will take time in the US, but I expect that more sports wagering operators and states will include horse racing on their sports catalogs.”

The SIS platform also includes live-streamed video with betting triggers, race day data, and an extensive range of markets and odds prices.

Shannon Ruston, Executive Director of Operations & Racing at Bally's Arapahoe Park, said: “We are thrilled to be able to put horse racing on Colorado sportsbooks for fixed-odds wagering. Working with SIS, we crafted a commercial framework that benefits local racing, while giving sportsbooks access to thousands of races. Our belief is that this development will secure a better future not only for Arapahoe Park, but also for the racing ecosystem as a whole in Colorado.”

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HBPA Panel on Fixed Odds: Future of Wagering

HOT SPRINGS, Ark.–Dave Basler sees betting on table tennis in Asia and envisions it being replaced with horse racing in America's burgeoning sports books.

“We can fill that void a lot of times during the day so that they don't have to play table tennis from China or cricket from Australia–things that people have no idea about,” Basler, the executive director of the Ohio HBPA, said Thursday during a morning session of the National HBPA Conference at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort. “That's not just attractive to sports books, that's attractive to horsemen and racetracks for the opportunity to increase our revenue.”

Eric Hamelback, CEO of the National Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association, at the 2018 conference cautioned horsemen that sports wagering was coming and the racing industry needed to be prepared. Shortly thereafter, the U.S. Supreme Court struct down the ban on sports wagering. Thirty states now have passed such legislation, including Arkansas.

Now, he says the U.S. racing industry must turn its attention to implementing fixed odds. That's a divergence from the pari-mutuel industry that currently is the linchpin of American horse racing, while sports betting is based on fixed odds that allow players to lock into a price in advance of an event.

“It's here, it's on us,” Hamelback said. “Now we need to really move and pivot and focus on how to deal with it.”

The panel also included Louisiana HBPA executive director Ed Fenasci. Sports betting began in Louisiana last fall, with an online component starting in January. Basler's home state of Ohio is scheduled to start sports wagering Jan. 1, 2023 after passing the enabling legislation in December.

“Pari-mutuel wagering is not going to be in the sports books,” Basler said. “Fixed-odds wagering will be. So we need to take advantage of that ability to bring in customers and get our product in front of millions and millions of potential new fans.”

Fenasci said sports books have the ability to be more creative than pari-mutuel wagering, including with parlay bets.

“Who knows what is going to become the popular wager, right?” he said. “Two grays will win today at the Fair Grounds. This trainer is going to win a race and this jockey will win two races. You can marry a hockey game with the fifth race at the Fair Grounds and marry that to maybe a college football game betting on LSU.

“This is the future of horse-race wagering in the United States. Not this year, five years from now. This model of sports book wagering has competed very well with other forms of gaming. The parimutuel model has been eroding over the last 30 years. It's not standing the test of time when other forms of gaming come in and capture the attention of the customer base.”

Fenasci said the apps for betting online with sports books is “the type of interaction that is going to appeal to 20- and 30-year olds…We want shelf space on these new e-commerce sites. We want horse racing to be there prominently displayed for people who may not have had the opportunity in the past to consume that product.”

Basler said fixed odds could make “an unbettable race now a bettable race.”

“There's a graded-stakes race with six horses and a 3-5 shot in there,” he said. “There's a good chance the bookmaker will take the 3-5 shot out of the pool entirely and price everybody else as if that horse weren't in the race. There are a lot of things that we don't have the ability in parimutuel pools that fixed odds can offer and perhaps enhance our product.”

Former Ladbrokes executive Richard Ames is CEO of British-based Sports Information Services and president of its U.S. subsidiary SIS Content Services Inc., both of which provide content and production services to the betting industry. He said Australian racing went from being overwhelmingly parimutuel to a decade later seeing “probably 55, 60 percent” of wagering through fixed odds.

“We know consumers like the idea if they place a bet at 6-1, that's what they're going to get,” he said.

Panel moderator Michele Fischer, an industry consultant who spent years working for the tote-betting company Sportech Racing and now serves as vice president of SIS' American operation, said some horsemen are surprised to hear that U.S. races already are being distributed in overseas sports books. While the Stronach Group-owned GWS is the largest exporter of U.S. content, she said SIS is the world's largest horse-racing content distributor in the world. It is fairly new to the American market, however.

SIS currently distributes on a 24-hour cycle more than 30,000 horse races and 38,000 greyhound races a year at 118 tracks in 16 countries.

“The sports book wants to have a volume of content,” Ames said. “They want to have access to thousands of races.”

He said there are different models on how racetracks and horsemen are compensated for having their races in sports books, including a fixed fee, revenue-sharing or getting a percentage of betting proceeds.

“Why should we consider this?” Fischer asked rhetorically. “Horse racing had a fabulous year in terms of handle in 2021, the highest it had been since 2009. In some states, we have a false comfort. Purses are very high–you look at Kentucky with HHR (historical horse racing) booming there. It's doing well in Virginia. But when you look at the big picture across the United States, the simple answer is horse racing is not self-sufficient. We're using alternative gaming to support our purses.

“This is an opportunity to become more self-sufficient, because we're betting on horse racing–not betting on a VLT machine or HHR machine.”

   Rees is a horse-racing communications specialist in the horse-racing industry, including working for the National and Kentucky HBPA.

 

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SIS Launching U.S. Subsidiary; Eyes Potential Growth Of Fixed Odds Wagering

United Kingdom-based Sports Information Services is launching a U.S. subsidiary, SIS Content Services Inc., showcasing the company's commitment to the U.S. and the opportunities available to digital and retail sportsbook operators and horse racing stakeholders.

SIS has been active in the market's pari-mutuel pool betting for a number of years, and offers a comprehensive range of products and services for sportsbook operators and racetracks.

For sportsbooks, SIS Content Services offers a full turnkey solution of real-time data and video feeds, trading services, and liability management on its portfolio of over 30,000 horse races, 38,000 greyhound races, and more than 100,000 competitive gaming (eSports) events. This international portfolio can add high-quality proven content to sportsbooks quickly and easily.

For racetracks, SIS offers fixed odds distribution of their racing content both domestically and globally to maximize revenue and attract new customers to the racing product. SIS is the most successful distributor of racing on a worldwide basis partnering with 118 racecourses in 16 countries.

SIS brings its expertise to the U.S. horse racing market as regulators, sportsbooks, racetracks, and horsemen's groups examine how fixed odds should be implemented as a sports betting product and as a complement to the current pari-mutuel system to grow the sport.

Richard Ames, CEO of SIS and president of SIS Content Services, said the launch played a significant part in the increased internationalization of the SIS business and comes at a time when the U.S. racing market faces unprecedented change and opportunity.

“SIS will provide customers with access to the world's best horse racing content, 30 years of distribution experience, and turnkey technology with the capacity to generate new revenues both on and off-track,” Ames said. “Our offering comes with all the products and services required to satisfy stakeholders across the industry and will add significant value to their own proposition.

“When it comes to fixed odds wagering, there are obviously a number of regulatory hurdles to cross in the coming months,” Ames continued, “but there is a genuine opportunity for it to benefit both horseracing stakeholders and sportsbooks. The launch of SIS Content Services follows on the heels of a significant investment in Australia's RACELAB GLOBAL, and is further evidence of the commitment that SIS is making to racing as both a sport and a wagering offering.”

SIS Content Services will be led by Michele Fischer and will make a number of additional appointments in the coming months. Fischer brings a wealth of U.S. horse racing knowledge to the role and is a familiar face to many in the industry as an international racing consultant and former Sportech executive.

“We have seen an explosion in sports betting in regulated states in the last few years,” said Fischer. “The time is now for U.S. racing and all its stakeholders to be an active participant and reap the benefits of that growth as well.

“As SIS has demonstrated for decades in the UK and Ireland, and currently in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, it is extremely well-positioned to help operators and racetracks make the most of their racing content,” said Fischer. “I am excited to be leading SIS Content Services at a time when the opportunity for U.S. racing both domestically and internationally is greater than it has ever been”

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