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[illinoisbred]

Originally Posted by rrbauer

From the DRF article:

"Arlington, racing 91 days compared with 98 in 2009, handled an average of $2,907,845 according to figures provided by the Illinois Racing Board. That number marked a decline of 27 percent from the all-sources daily average of $4,003,711 in 2009. Out-of-state handle on Arlington races averaged $2,189,310 during this meet compared with $3,228,821 in 2009, a drop of 32 percent. Average daily ontrack handle fell to $431,603 from $466,505 in 2010, a drop of 7 percent. Illinois legalized account wagering earlier this year, and a daily average of $56,685 was bet online on Arlington races during this meet..."

They also carded a record number of turf races in 2010. That must have been the reason for the decline: Pissed-off plastic bettors.

Thats what surprises me about these numbers-way down despite the record number of turf races-clearly a popular move here. I'd estimate I played 25 or fewer polytrack races the entire meet. This resulted mostly due to very short fields,the presence of 2 or more of our super-duper trainers in a race, or just the quirkiness of the surface this year. It was a strange year to say the least.