NEWS
Wagering, purse figures show encouraging trends
Posted: Friday, September 03, 2010 2:33 PM
by Frank Angst
While overall wagering and purse figures continue to decline, when tracks do run, they are generating about the same daily handle as last year and giving out slightly more daily purse money.
Compared with last August, average handle per racing day was up 6% in August 2010 and average purses spiked 6.12%. For the year 2010 overall, compared with last year, average handle per racing day was down just 0.58% and purses were up 1.69%.
Many tracks have reduced racing days in 2010. The figures may indicate those reductions are in line with declining demand. There were 4,115 racing days—any day a track runs a card—through the first eight months of 2009 and there have been 3,838 racing days through August this year, a 6.73% decline.
The decline in racing days is similar to the decline in overall handle for the year, which is down 7.27% to $8,134,192,037.
In the month of August, racing days were down 13.23% to 564 and handle was down 8.03% to $1,119,843,513.
Purses offered in August were down 7.92% to $104,561,464 and for the year they are off 5.15% to $690,761,655.
Frank Angst is senior writer for Thoroughbred Times
