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March Economic Indicators; Wagering And Purses Rise While Number Of Races Decline

Wagering on U.S. races, available and paid purses and the average field size, all saw increases to varying degrees, while the number of races declined during the month of March, according to information released by Equibase on Friday.

Total wagering of over $972 million on races during the month represented a 0.99% increase over the same period from 2022, while available purses of $102.8 million were up by 8.41%. The figure of over $98 million for paid purses in March was up 7.55%. However, the total number of race days dropped from 294 to 284 (3.40%) and the number of U.S. races was down from 2,469 in March 2023 to last month's tally of 2,398.

Average field size in March was up over a year ago, however, and checked in at an average of 7.54 runners, an increase of 0.82%. Average daily wagering was up by 4.54% to $3,422,734 and the average available purse number per race day was up 16.79% to $362,067 from the figure of $310,014 in 2022.

For the first quarter of 2024, wagering on U.S. races declined 4.04% to $2.590 billion. Available purse money was up 0.41%, while the paid purse money was down 0.53%. Average daily wagering of $3.44 million was up by 4.75% while the average available purses per race day increased by 14.11% to $354,826.

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Weather Causes Drop In January Economic Indicators

Several days of cancelled races due to weather, especially along the East Coast, led to over a 10% dip in wagering from January compared to the same time last year according to statistics released by Equibase. Last month saw 217 race days with a total of 1,853 carded races and $779,860,113 wagered (-10.76%), down from 265 days, 2,280 races and $873,842,469 wagered in Jan. '23, leading to drops in purses paid (-14.94%) and totals starts (-17.36%). On the positive side, despite those cancellations, average wagering was up (+8.99%) as was average available purses per race day (+9.97%). Field size was also up on the month with the average race seeing 7.86 runners (+1.68%).

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Handle Drops by 3.7% in 2023 as Purses Also Take a Slight Dip

According to data released Friday by Equibase, handle in 2023 fell by $447,759,362 for a decline of 3.7 percent. Had handle not rebounded in December, which saw a 6.62% increase, the figures would have looked much worse.

Outside of the COVID year of 2020, this was the steepest decline based on percentage of handle since 2011. A total of $11,658,624,859 was wagered in 2023.

“I think we got quite a blip coming out of the pandemic when we were the only game in town,” said Marshall Gramm, an economics professor, horseplayer and the managing partner of Ten Strike Stable. “Now, I think we are feeling the real competition from sports betting. It's proliferated everywhere and at such a cheaper price point. Then we have small field sizes and the quality of the product is deteriorating. A lot of things have come together. The game is getting ever tougher for the real hardcore weekend warriors who would handle a couple hundred thousand to a million a year. They're finding this market to be a lot tougher. It's shark eats shark out there.”

In a surprising development, U.S. purses fell from $1,309,888,791 to $1,305,772,102, for a decline of .31 percent. With so much money being funneled into purses accounts from alternative forms of gambling, purses rose by 35.8% in 2021, the year after COVID. They were up 10.9 percent in 2022. With the casino market pretty saturated in this country, massive year-over-year increases in purses may be a thing of the past.

There was a reduction of 5.48% in the category of U.S. Race Days and a dip of 3.34 percent in U.S. starts.

In a somewhat encouraging development, the average field size actually showed a slight increase from 7.3 to 7.43.

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Horseshoe Indy Makes Veteran’s Day Donation To HVAF

Team members and racing fans at Horseshoe Indianapolis participated in the third annual Veteran's Day event Nov. 10 to raise proceeds for the Hoosier Veterans and Families, Inc. (HVAF) of Indiana, according to a release by the track Monday.

The event featured several ways to raise funding and awareness for veterans including naming each race in honor of a veteran associated in some way to Horseshoe Indianapolis. Special saddle towels were also awarded to veterans and family members honored during the racing program. Additionally, a Veteran's Day Pick 5 Challenge was held featuring handicappers placing wagers into the Late Fire Five with all proceeds set going to HVAF.

“This is the third year we have offered the Pick Five Challenge on Veteran's Day and each year, these handicappers are eager to be involved with the cause,” said Horseshoe Indianapolis Vice President and GM Eric Halstrom.

In addition to funding raised from the Veteran's Day event, Horseshoe Indianapolis provided a $4,000 donation. Halstrom recently presented HVAF with a check for $4,430.15.

“Being able to be a small part of assistance for veterans is very rewarding for us,” added Halstrom. “We are proud to be an annual partner with HVAF.”

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