Report: How big events & fixed odds impact betting on races

The concentration of betting for big Thoroughbred events like the Kentucky Derby has become a double-edged sword. That was a mixed message reportedly coming out of a panel discussion Tuesday during the Racing and Gaming Conference at Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

“If you look around the country, 1% of the race days account for 20% of the total handle,” 1/ST chief revenue officer Joe Longo said, according to BloodHorse. Later he said, “Yes, it becomes bigger and better, but it also waters down the rest of the racing calendar.”

During the same session dedicated to the mix of racing and sports wagering, it was suggested that big events such as the Breeders’ Cup still have room to expand their footprints if they were to be included alongside the likes of football on sports-betting apps.

“The key is to get some of the people who are attracted to the marquee event to be involved in horse racing the rest of the year,” Louisiana State Racing Commission executive director Stephen Landry said.

Landry, who BloodHorse said was representing himself and not necessarily the commission, also talked about a proposal to add fixed-odds wagering alongside pari-mutuels at his state’s tracks. He differed with some of his colleagues in Louisiana who fear fixed odds and sports betting could dilute the pari-mutuel takeout that drives racing’s economic engine.

“We don’t think based on the model that we have that we’re going to erode the pari-mutuel handle by taking bets away from there and putting them on sports wagering. ... But we’re going to recognize that we might not have it right the very first time we launch it.”

Fixed-odds horse betting is legal in New Jersey, Colorado and West Virginia. Louisiana is on the verge of authorizing it, and it has moved forward in Maryland. A big challenge to its growth is lining up simulcast tracks to put on betting menus.

One provider of international racing content to U.S. bettors is bullish on fixed odds being a natural addition to a sports menu where that type of wagering is very familiar to players.

“I think for some people (pari-mutuel betting) is very confusing,” Sports Information Services vice president Michele Fischer said. “Having it in the same format as all the other sports is something we need to look at.”

According to BloodHorse, Fischer cited Australia as a model because of its 78% increase in purses in the last 13 years because of the growth of both fixed-odds and pari-mutuel wagering on races.

Longo warned that it was not as simple as flipping the same switch in America.

“You can find a case everywhere in a lot of different countries where something like this happened,” he said, “and they may not have had control, and it totally decimated the pari-mutuel model. That’s the importance here within the States. Do we have control?”