Betting numbers up significantly

Betting figures released by Entain during the week indicate that wagering wise, racing is heading in the right direction.

For the month of July in comparison to last year, Greyhound Racing was up by 9.7% ($8.7 million), Thoroughbred Racing 13.3% ($26.7 million) and Harness Racing 25.9% ($11.0 million).

Seven more harness racing meetings were held this season compared to last season and the turnover numbers reflect both TAB and betcha platforms.

The good news doesn’t end there.

Last Friday night Addington turned over $1.1 million with the average turnover per race up $10,000 while Auckland which raced on the same night, put through $645,000.

“What we’re starting to see year on year, is the impact of Friday Night Lights. When you look at last Friday night as an example, the wagering between the two Metro Clubs was up by over twenty one percent on the same Friday night last year,” Brad Steele CEO of HRNZ said.

He’s also buoyed by the success of the recently completed Southern Surge which culminated in $25,000 finals for rating horses at Gore last Sunday.

“Predominantly it was a down time (July for the southern region) with 60 to 70 starters and modest turnover. The number of starters across heats and finals more than doubled from what we experienced last year. We had fuller fields, the racing was competitive, we had six track records and punters warmed to the fuller fields.”

Gore’s turnover was $770,000 – up 120%, with four extra races.

Although the initiative kept horses racing further into winter, some are expecting numbers not to be so strong in the next month or two.

“‘You’d expect some of the numbers to fall away but I spoke to a number of trainers down at Gore last weekend and they said they had a few horses that were hanging in there to get through the final series. They also said they had other horses in work that would probably take the place on those horses heading to the paddock.”

The increase in betting numbers is also starting to reflect the recently passed Government legislation banning overseas bookmakers from accepting bets from New Zealand based punters.

“I had a Ladbrokes account up until recent times. I’m one of those that has been impacted by the Legislative Net. I’m now compliant and betting at the TAB,” he said.

Steele says the number of new customers is up by twenty percent and the average bet size is also up.

With better horses and races coming onstream for spring and summer, he’s confident the upward betting trends will continue.

“We’re approaching that time when the better horses start to reappear and there’s qualifying races for the Cup. There’s also enhanced media coverage and that’s leading into the World Drivers Championship. There’s going to be more eyeballs on the racing.”

Steele is hopeful that with harness racing growth, extra dollars could be available for things like stakes and other industry initiatives.

“I think that perhaps in the next twelve months some opportunities may start to present themselves.”

Whilst worldwide betting on harness racing is declining, New Zealand is bucking the trend.

“In Australia I think they’re down by about seven percent and America is down as well. I think the only two jurisdictions that have got reasonably sound wagering growth are New Zealand and France.”

Steele confirmed that HRNZ will have another breeding announcement due for release on Friday 5^th September.

“It’s a new initiative that we’ve been working on for a while. That’ll be the last of the major announcements at this stage.”

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink