Handle UP for June, handle up year-to-date

[andtheyreoff]

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/71045/economic-indicators-healthy-gains-in-june

Excerpt:
The $948,859,061 wagered in June, including world-wide commingled wagering on North American racing, represented a 6.99% gain over the $886,892,710 for June 2011. That handle growth resulted in a 13.1% increase in U.S. purses from $96,823,566 a year ago to $109,507,231 in June 2012. The number of U.S. race days during the month rose 9.78% to 595 from 542.

For the year to date, according to Equibase, total wagering of $5,657,286,019 through June was up 2.38% over the $5,526,027,065 figure for the same period a year ago. North American purses had increased 8.31% through June, from $482,475,243 in 2011 to $522,557,128 this year. U.S. race days though the first six months totaled 2,528, an increase from 2,481 through June 2011.

Very good news for racing. :ThmbUp: :ThmbUp: :ThmbUp: :ThmbUp:

[mannyberrios]

You just wait for the Spa, Del Mar, and the handle will go up even more

[Tom]

Number of race days going up is not a good thing.
We need less races, not more.

[Robert Goren]

This shows that increasing purses increases handle, but not enough to off set the increased costs. They should try a different approach, like through money at the bettors instead of at the horsemen. What have they got lose. The money from slots is coming to an end for the increased purses is coming to end. Events this year show that to be true. They are running out of time to save this industry as we know it.

[iceknight]

This shows that increasing purses increases handle, but not enough to off set the increased costs. They should try a different approach, like through money at the bettors instead of at the horsemen. What have they got lose. The money from slots is coming to an end for the increased purses is coming to end. Events this year show that to be true. They are running out of time to save this industry as we know it. That could just be coincidental, the connection between purse increase and handle. It could also have to do more with the economy macro factors.

Do you mean, they should "throw" money at bettors. They don't need to give bettors money, but I assume you mean - reduce the takeout, right?

[Horseplayersbet.com]

There were 5 Fridays and Saturdays this year as opposed to last June which had 4 of each. Friday and Saturdays are days that have the majority of tracks racing (this accounts for the increase in racing dates, races, and much of the increase in purses). Saturday is the biggest handle day of the week for many tracks.

[The Hawk]

Very good news for racing. :ThmbUp: :ThmbUp: :ThmbUp: :ThmbUp:

And you thought you were going to get away with posting something that indicated positive news for racing on this board? You should know better than that.

Funny, when the handle numbers are down I never hear of anyone going back and counting the Fridays and Saturdays and comparing them to previous years.

[Horseplayersbet.com]

And you thought you were going to get away with posting something that indicated positive news for racing on this board? You should know better than that.

Funny, when the handle numbers are down I never hear of anyone going back and counting the Fridays and Saturdays and comparing them to previous years.
I always look at things like that, whether handle is up or down. I would love to see horse racing grow.

At least June's data (and this year's data) shows that the industry may have bottomed, which is good news considering the trend the past 10 years.

I've noticed that real handle is rising at tracks that recently dropped takeout on at least a few wagers, like Charles Town, Penn, Aqueduct, Belmont, Hastings to name a few. Coincidence? Maybe more of that can cause upswings in total industry handle shortly.

[ThinkingAlways]

[QUOTE
Funny, when the handle numbers are down I never hear of anyone going back and counting the Fridays and Saturdays and comparing them to previous years.[/QUOTE]

You may not hear me, but I look at it every month.

Throwing additional purse money only works if a) the quality (however that is defined) of the racing goes up and/or b) the field sizes increase. Who has the quick track-by-track analysis of whether the purse money "bought" increase field sizes?

[lamboguy]

i got to think that SARATOGA will have an enormous increase in handle this year, just by limiting the field sizes in 2 yo maiden races. that will mean more 2 year old races which historically have big action on them. this in turn will probably mean more races on some cards than what they usually had. i think this is a great step for racing to have a more than successful meet.

there may be new countries that are going to bet on races in this country as well. as long as the time zones fit it in, this should add handle for the spa.

in case the weather is real nice there will be plenty more live handle, just because NYRA is trying to give the customer more of what they want this year.

i hope i am right!

[ThinkingAlways]

Normalizing June handle for the calendar differences, the only tracks (out of the top 20 or so tracks) that showed an increase in handle also showed an increase in purses (with PARX being the exception). Golden Gate purses were up about 60% and their handle was up about 40%, Arlington's purses were up about 50% and handle up about 20%, Belmont's purses were up about 25% and handle about 10%. Suffolk purses up about 20%, handle up about 20%.