Betting

The 2025 Global Symposium on Racing, hosted by the University of Arizona's Race Track Industry Program (RTIP), will offer a free live stream of the panel discussing CAW Growth and the importance of balancing it with racing' long-term health, it was announced via press release. "The Sustainability Algorithm: Balancing CAW Growth with Racing's Long-Term health" will be available to the public for free via live stream and video on demand. The session is set to begin Tuesday, Dec. 9 at 9:45am MST. More information and access to the live stream...

Wagering on U.S. races during the month of November experienced nearly an eight percent decrease and purses also saw a similar decline compared to a year ago, according to information released by Equibase on Friday. Total wagering of $848,116,672 on races during the month represented a 7.93% decrease over the same period from 2024, while available purses of over $118 million were lower by 7.76%. The figure of over $111 million for paid purses in November was also down by 7.49%. As for the total number of race days, they...

Thanks to a partnership between Xpressbet and Media System Technologies, a leading B2B operator of technological solutions for the Italian racing industry, Americans can now wake up to watching and betting on Italian racing. Live images from both thoroughbred and trotting races held at 15 Italian racecourses, including top racecourses like Roma, Pisa, Merano, Napoli and Siracusa, will be available on the feed, along with an integrated, comprehensive data stream for betting products. The betting pools will be commingled worldwide. The current Italian thoroughbred racing season is centered around Rome's...

One bill designed to restore the gambling losses tax deduction to 100% is languishing in committee and has, for all intents and purposes, politically flat-lined. The giant tax and spending bill signed into law by President Donald Trump in July caps gambling loss deductions to 90% of winnings (from 100%)--a provision set to go into effect next year. Industry leaders have warned this rate change could hit horse racing hard through reduced revenues from gambling dollars. Those jurisdictions with no supplemental purse revenues, like California, are especially vulnerable to the...

Kelsey Danner probably didn't look at the tote board prior to Thursday's first race at Kentucky Downs. She's not a bettor, she says. But she thought her starter, Repentless (Violence), could run a bit, something the bettors obviously didn't pick up on. They sent the first-time starter off at 25-1. With Adam Beschizza aboard, the colt won by three lengths and paid $52.08. It was not her longest priced winner at the meet. Fellow first-time starter Ground Support (Army Mule) won Saturday's second race for the Danner Stable and paid...

The version of President Donald Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" passed by the Senate earlier this week contains a tax provision that could prove prohibitive to gamblers, with ramifications for horse racing's bottom line. In the Senate's version of the bill, deductions for gambling winnings will be limited to 90% of annual losses. Currently, gamblers can deduct 100% of wagering losses (below a net profit) for any given year. As NBC Sports describes it, "$100,000 in winnings against $100,000 in losses will be treated for tax purposes as if the losses...

Edited Press Release The board of the Florida Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association met to discuss the recent statements made by Keith Brackpool on behalf of the Stronach Group, 1/ST Racing, and Gulfstream Park. According to the press release sent Friday, all discussions with Gulfstream to date had been premised on continued racing, not shutting down Gulfstream Park with or without decoupling. The statement continues that when representatives of Gulfstream Park approached the FTHA last summer, they proposed how to best save racing in South Florida as part of an overall plan....

Mike Maloney had it good and he knew it. The author of "Betting With an Edge," the native Kentuckian played the races professionally and was able to make a good living doing so for nearly half a century. There was no trick to it. He bet a lot of money, as much as $14 million in one year, worked hard and had an innate ability to find the right horse at the right time at the right price. "When it comes to betting horses, I am closing in on 50...

The momentum built by the opening-day, six graded-stakes program at Santa Anita carried on into the weekend, as bettors pushed all-sources handle to over $50.4 million over the course of the 39 races between Thursday, Dec. 26 and Sunday, Dec. 29. Aided by strong support from owners and trainers that led to an increase in field size from 2023, the stretch was led by the $21.4-million turnover on Thursday's program, topped by the GI Malibu Stakes, won by Raging Torrent (Maximus Mischief) and the GI La Brea Stakes, taken out...

by Walter Toner Rainy afternoon on Cape Cod and I had a few minutes to kill, so flipped the channel to TVG for a quick flutter. I selected the filly Just Like Magic, approaching the gate at 7-5 as the recipient of a $10 win wager in the 3rd race Oaklawn (3/28). She charged up the rail and won. Final odds were 3-5. WTF. Sorry for the crudeness. Racing will never engage the next generation of punters with 15-27% takeout and NO fixed odds, when they can bet on sports...

I retired in 2019 as the most prolific bugler in horse racing history with over 60,000 performances of "First Call" at a record-setting 51 racetracks in 23 states and Canada. My herald trumpet, which I used at NYRA for most of my time there, has been on display at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame for the past three years. Of this, I am very proud. But this is not the subject of my email. The subject is betting on horses, and I had some success in...

Premier Racedays, an undertaking by British Racing to market and promote racing's best racedays, will launch with the New Year's Day fixture at Cheltenham, the first of some 170 such programs to be staged in 2024. Premier Racedays is part of a two-year series of changes with the aim of growing British racing by 'increasing engagement among new and existing customers, improving revenues across all areas of the industry, promoting investment in the sport through the recruitment and retention of owners, and encouraging the best horses to be bred, trained...