Tag: total handle

Woodbine’s 2023 Thoroughbred Meet Produces Mixed Results

Woodbine Entertainment's 2023 Thoroughbred season produced an all-sources handle of $613,125,180 CAD, which was the second largest single-season recorded, but that overall number was down $8 million from 2022, the organization said in a release Wednesday.

In 2023, a total of 1,180 races were contested over 128 dates of racing compared to 1,198 races over 132 dates in 2022. Woodbine ran four less dates and 18 less races in 2023 due to an unprecedented number of cancelled race cards (five) because of extreme heat and poor air quality caused by smoke from forest fires across Canada. The average field size for those races was 8.2, the same as 2022, and above the industry average.

In Ontario, wagering on Woodbine Thoroughbred racing by customers across the province was down 6.2% ($81.8 million this season vs $87.2 million in 2022).

The decline in home market wagering was partially mitigated by a foreign market handle of $512 million, a decrease from $515 million in 2022, though still a remarkable gain from the previous record of $420 million in 2021. The $512 million in foreign market handle was supported by a strong U.S. dollar.

The average handle per race in 2023 was a record $519,597. This is an increase of $580 per race from 2022.

To address the increased competition from an emerging licensed sports betting market, Woodbine Entertainment announced a partnership with global sports betting leader bet365 prior to The King's Plate.

“We are operating on a very solid foundation that positions us well to manage the current industry and economic trends,” said Michael Copeland, CEO, Woodbine Entertainment. “We also have opportunities before us that have not been fully realized yet, like the integration of racing into licensed sportsbooks, which will have a positive impact.”

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Record Springboard Mile Handle Closes Successful Season At Remington Park

Remington Park ended the 2021 Thoroughbred Season with a thrilling Springboard Mile Night on Friday, Dec. 17 as Make It Big won a stretch-long battle with Osbourne to win the track's top stakes event for 2-year-olds.

Both Make It Big (10 pts.) and Osbourne (4 pts.) earned qualifying points for the 2022 Kentucky Derby for their efforts in the Springboard Mile. The featured race was accompanied by a solid undercard of 12 other races with four of those also stakes events. The big night catapulted Remington Park to a record pari-mutuel handle night with wagering reaching $4,050,597. It was the first time in track history that handle on a single racing program exceeded the $4 million.

Total handle for the 67-date Remington Park season (Aug. 20-Dec. 17) reached $98,120,236, an increase of 31.2 percent over the similar number from the 2019 season which handled $74,806,848.

Remington Park also welcomed racing guests back in full for 2021, for the first time since 2019. Those on-track players responded with handle of $3,471,207 an increase of 15.8 percent over the 2019 mark of $2,997,881.

Export handle on Remington Park remained strong with $94,497,917 wagered by players from outside the jurisdiction controlled locally. That is an increase of 31.9 percent above the 2019 total of $71,620,980.

Remington Park's one off-track partner, Thunder Roadhouse in Oklahoma City, handled $151,112. Thunder Roadhouse is less than nine miles from Remington Park, offering wagering convenience to many local horseplayers.

Remington Park horsemen competed for record amounts in total purses of $17,838,020, an average of $266,239 daily. These totals are up 5.1 percent, topping the total mark of $16,971,799 in 2019, when the daily average was $253,310.

All handle and purses comparisons are made to the 2019 season, which was 67 dates in length and the most recent Thoroughbred season at Remington Park where the entire facility was available to guests. The 2020 season was conducted under limited access guidelines due to health concerns brought by the pandemic. 2019 was also the last racing year where the North American horse racing market operated on a regular business level.

There were 601 races conducted this season, nine fewer than a year ago. A total of 4,991 horses started this season for an average field size of 8.3. There were 5,261 starters in 2020 with average field size of 8.6 per race.

Remington Park live racing is on hiatus until the beginning of the 2022 American Quarter Horse Season, starting March 3. Thoroughbred racing will return in late August 2022.

The post Record Springboard Mile Handle Closes Successful Season At Remington Park appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Foreign Gains, Average Field Size Of 9 Starters Push Woodbine To Third-Highest Season Handle

Woodbine Entertainment today announced the 2021 Thoroughbred season produced an all-sources handle of $505,348,339, the third highest season total in Woodbine Thoroughbred history.

For the second consecutive season, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a shortened season, as the 2021 Woodbine Thoroughbred meet did not begin until June 12. Originally scheduled for 133 race dates, the 2021 season included 99 race days, three more than last year, and 946 races contested.

Despite the delayed start, the 2021 season topped $500 million in all-sources handle, propelled mightily by Woodbine's highest single-season foreign wagering handle ever of $420,666,755.

The strong foreign numbers can be attributed to enticing and consistent field sizes, as Woodbine averaged 9.0 starters per-race to rank as one of North America's leading racetracks in the category.

“Growing and strengthening the Woodbine brand across North America has been a focal point of our day-to-day activities over the past several years,” said Jim Lawson, CEO of Woodbine Entertainment. “We're proud of our success in this area, as it's evident these efforts continue to raise the profile of our world-class racing product at Woodbine.

“Although our gains in the US are considerable, we're intently focused on revitalizing wagering in our home market area for 2022. Through evolving restrictions, we now have our racetracks and off-track locations operating, while also sporting our largest number of HPIbet users ever. Our task now is to leverage all options available in 2022 to push this area towards sustainability.”

The impressive average field size of 9.0 helped push a 4.8 per cent increase in average per-race handle, which came in at $534,194 for 2021.

“Our racing team did a great job in creating appealing and competitive races throughout the entire season,” said Lawson. “The support of the owners and trainers through these hard times deserves recognition and our commitment to providing the best overall experience to those racing at Woodbine will only heighten in 2022.”

Key Highlights of 2021:

The 2022 Woodbine Thoroughbred season is tentatively scheduled to begin on Saturday, April 16. A total of 133 race-dates are on the schedule, headlined by the 163rd running of The Queen's Plate on Sunday, August 21.

The post Foreign Gains, Average Field Size Of 9 Starters Push Woodbine To Third-Highest Season Handle appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Economic Indicators: Record Breeders’ Cup Handle Leads Slight Wagering Increases In November

Equibase, North American racing's official database, released Monday its November 2021 statistics for the industry's economic indicators, including field size, wagering, and other data, along with year-to-date and 2019 and 2020 numbers. The database distributes 2020 and 2021 numbers and includes 2019's data for comparisons to pre-COVID-19 pandemic numbers.

Led by a record handle at the Del Mar-hosted Breeders' Cup World Championships on Nov. 5 and 6 ($183,260,127, a two-day record for the championship event), November's total wagering numbers were up 7.40 percent over the same month in 2020. Part of the reason for the increase could be the return of in-person attendance to the Breeders' Cup, which was severely restricted at Keeneland in 2020.

When Del Mar last hosted the Breeders' Cup in 2017, it posted a then-record handle of $166,077,486. The new mark is 10.4 percent higher than that.

Compared to 2019, this November's handle was only 0.62 percent higher, though average wagering per race day sustained a solid 12.04 percent bump between November of 2019 and November of 2021.

Though purses and race days are both up over 25 percent from the same month in 2020, average daily wagering saw a sharp decrease of 17.33 percent, while the year-to-date figures for average wagering are also down nearly 10 percent. That contrasts sharply with the numbers from 2019, which put average wagering up over 20 percent from the first 11 months of 2019 to the same period in 2021.

The discrepancy could be explained by the increased attention horse racing experienced during the harshest months of the pandemic in 2020; this year's return to a more normal sports schedule and in-person activities could definitely play a role in where wagering dollars have been spent.

November 2021 vs. November 2020
Indicator November 2021 November 2020 % Change
Wagering on U.S. Races* $961,813,331 $895,546,532 +7.40%
U.S. Purses $117,678,625 $92,095,830 +27.78%
U.S. Race Days 291 224 +29.91%
U.S. Races 2,440 1,945 +25.45%
U.S. Starts 18,782 16,236 +15.68%
Average Field Size 7.70 8.35 -7.79%
Average Wagering Per Race Day $3,305,200 $3,997,976 -17.3`3%
Average Purses Per Race Day $404,394 $411,142 -1.64%

YTD 2021 vs. YTD 2020
Indicator YTD 2021 YTD 2020 % Change
Wagering on U.S. Races* $11,409,728,296 $10,171,153,164 +12.18%
U.S. Purses $1,106,048,142 $812,236,796 +36.17%
U.S. Race Days 3,821 3,073 +24.34%
U.S. Races 31,415 25,692 +22.28%
U.S. Starts 230,147 203,122 +13.30%
Average Field Size 7.33 7.91 -7.34%
Average Wagering Per Race Day $2,986,058 $3,309,845 -9.78%
Average Purses Per Race Day $289,466 $264,314 +9.52%

2019 Comparisons:

November 2021 vs. November 2019
Indicator November 2021 November 2019 % Change
Wagering on U.S. Races* $961,813,331 $955,843,009 +0.62%
U.S. Purses $117,678,625 $115,756,315 +1.66%
U.S. Race Days 291 324 -10.19%
U.S. Races 2,440 2,730 -10.62%
U.S. Starts 18,782 21,839 -14.00%
Average Field Size 7.70 8.00 -3.78%
Average Wagering Per Race Day $3,305,200 $2,950,133 +12.04%
Average Purses Per Race Day $404,394 $357,273 +13.19%

YTD 2021 vs. YTD 2019
Indicator YTD 2021 YTD 2019 % Change
Wagering on U.S. Races* $11,409,728,296 $10,326,096,192 +10.49%
U.S. Purses $1,106,048,142 $1,101,605,086 +0.40%
U.S. Race Days 3,821 4,173 -8.44%
U.S. Races 31,415 34,038 -7.71%
U.S. Starts 230,147 254,992 -9.74%
Average Field Size 7.33 7.49 -2.21%
Average Wagering Per Race Day $2,986,058 $2,474,502 +20.67%
Average Purses Per Race Day $289,466 $263,984 +9.65%

* Includes worldwide commingled wagering on U.S. races.

The post Economic Indicators: Record Breeders’ Cup Handle Leads Slight Wagering Increases In November appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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