Churchill Downs: `08 Derby betting down 3.2%

[Pace Cap'n]

Surprised it wasn't more than that.

www.marketwatch.com/news/story/churchill-downs-reports- (http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/churchill-downs-reports-derby-betting/story.aspx?guid=%7B4D60ED71%2DF52C%2D421D%2DB676%2 D018EF7FD1851%7D)

Churchill Downds President Steve Sexton said in the company's statement that off-track wagering was hurt because tens of thousands of customers who bet via advance deposits over the Internet were limited to betting on the Kentucky Derby race and the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic.

[cj]

I'm sure they lost a lot more on the under card.

[BillW]

It was down last year too, and this figure was compared to last year.

[BillW]

mutuel pools only ...

2006 - $49,682,268
2007 - $49,564,992
2008 - $47,956,784

I guess it wasn't down so much last year.

[BillW]

I'm sure they lost a lot more on the under card.


Pick 6 ...

2006 - $1,202,120
2007 - $1,429,995
2008 - $676,018

Pick 4 ...

2006 - $2,600,008
2007 - $2,174,027
2008 - $1,700,531

Total mutuel pools for the days races (12 in total) ...

2006 - $70,747,997
2007 - $68,088,001
2008 - $66,834,977

[Pace Cap'n]

I'm sure they lost a lot more on the under card.

Total on-track and off-track wagering on the 12-race card on Kentucky Derby Day slipped 2% to $164.7 million from $168 million a year earlier.

I still can't believe it wasn't more than that.

[dylbert]

Surprised it wasn't more than that.

www.marketwatch.com/news/story/churchill-downs-reports- (http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/churchill-downs-reports-derby-betting/story.aspx?guid=%7B4D60ED71%2DF52C%2D421D%2DB676%2 D018EF7FD1851%7D)BREAKING NEWS... I am watching Capital OTB online show right now. Their patrons and those of three other New York-based OTBs had technical problem with United Tote just about one hour before post time.

Their president who came on air to apologize and explain stated that it cost Capital OTB about $500,000 in handle. So, this problem extended beyond ADW and horsemen issues.

Also, US economy is allegedly in recession and folks may have decided to buy milk, bread and gasoline instead on mutuel tickets. Therefore, decline in wagering may have many, many contributing factors that are not easily explained by single answer.

[jma]

That's actually not much of a decline considering the difficulties people had betting on the card. I expected a lot more.

[railjunkie]

Horse racing, at its best, is a spectacle. The pageantry will be on full display this afternoon as the race for the Triple Crown kicks off at the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

Swell gentlemen and elegant ladies in fancy hats will sip mint juleps and sing the race's anthem, My Old Kentucky Home.

A similar party will rock MEC's Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore two weeks from now during the second leg of the Triple Crown run. Baltimoreans will imbibe Black-Eyed Susans as they cheer on the horses in the 133rd running of The Preakness.

The problem is there are too few spectacles. The highlights include those two races, the third leg — the Belmont Stakes — the annual Breeders Cup in the fall and the Queen's Plate in Toronto.

Beyond those galas, the sport attracts little attention from national television networks. As a business, it's in dire straits, with isolated pockets where it is holding its own.

The New York Racing Association, operator of Aqueduct, Belmont Park and Saratoga, lost a reported $34-million and is still in court protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

MTR Gaming Group Inc., which runs tracks in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan, lost $11.4-million last year.

National attendance statistics are impossible to calculate because Gulfstream and other tracks with slot parlours now let patrons in free.

The amount of money bet on horses has remained relatively static for 25 years while gambling over all has exploded in the United States.

Betting on horse races, dog races and the Florida sport of jai alai amounted to $2.8-billion in 1982 or about 27 per cent of the $10.4-billion that was gambled nationally.

The most recent annual figures produced by Christiansen Capital Advisers LLC, a consulting firm in New Gloucester, Me., show gambling had soared ninefold to $90.9-billion by 2006. But of that total, horse racing's share has fallen dramatically.

Money wagered on horses at racetracks has fallen every single year since 1996, even though the total amount bet on horse racing has fluctuated little in the past decade, according to separate figures compiled by The Jockey Club. Americans wagered $2.9-billion at tracks in 1996 and just $1.7-billion last year.

The amount wagered off track soared to $13.1-billion from $8.7-billion in 1996.

The numbers underline one of the key issues for the industry, for Gulfstream and for Mr. Stronach: How do tracks attract more people and compete with other forms of gambling?

Mr. Stronach believes that once people have been lured to the tracks, the thunder of the hooves will ultimately win them over. He figures people think they can become skilled at picking out a winning horse or a great jockey.

"Lotteries are pure luck. Slot machines are pure luck."

[Indulto]

On-track attendance seemed unaffected by the ADWs' plight according to figures available through DRF charts:

HOL 14,005
BEL 11,310
LS 18,689
CBY 18,230
SUF 16,290
TAM 10,690
TUP 8,525
CT 5,969