For many decades, horse racing has been regarded as a cornerstone of both the US and the UK betting culture. However, both countries have some distinctions in their horse racing betting trends and numbers as well as some similarities. It is common knowledge that the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted every sector including horse racing but since it was eradicated in 2021, the industry’s handle has continued to surge higher in both countries. Predictions indicate that the horse racing betting industry is poised to surge even higher in the coming years.
Overview of Horse Racing Betting
Horse racing betting has been described as a multifaceted activity that leverages a variation of data vital for conscious wagering decisions. For years, punters have been analyzing past performance, track conditions, and win/loss ratios.
There are many betting options from the simple ‘win’ bets (placing a wager on a horse that is likely to win a race), to the more complex bets including accumulators and forecasts. Horse racing betting is not far removed from other forms of betting as it also entails wagering funds and coming out the loser or winner.
Horse Racing Betting in the United Kingdom: Trends and Numbers
In the UK, horse racing betting is considered to be a big business as some horse betting sites in the United Kingdom are rated among the best in the world. It is an industry that has generated jobs, revenue, and more for the country’s teeming population.
Sports betting, is what fuels the UK horse racing industry facilitated by multiple registered bookmakers operating in different parts of the country. UK bookmakers can be located at betting and racetracks, and the majority of them populate the online betting market. The advent of technological advancement in online betting has given it the upper hand in the UK as it has already taken up a huge proportion of betting activities on horse races. The major driver of this development is mobile phones that offer unlimited access to the betting markets. There is also the development of high-speed and reliable internet services. 2022 statistics show that off-course betting in the UK (including online betting) was responsible for around 98 percent of all bets placed.
The totality of the UK’s annual betting turnover in 2022 was pegged at £3.12 billion or thereabouts. This growth indicated a massive recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic plummeted the figures in 2020 and 2021. On-course horse race betting performed excellently well between April 2021 and March 2022 with a turnover of £119 million – an indication that race betting contributes part of the total betting turnover at UK horse races yearly. On the other hand, off-course horse race bets in 2022 were approximately £3 billion.
Top UK bookies encounter millions of visitors on their sites. A July 2023 report revealed that Bet365 entertained 6.3 million users for the month, William Hill had 4.9 million visitors, Skybet with 3.9 million, Paddypower with 3.4 million visitors, Ladbrokes with 3.2 million visitors, Coral with 2.5 million visitors, Betfred with 1.9 million visitors, and Betfair with 1.6 visitors.
The Drifts and Statistics of Horse Racing Betting in the United States of America
Fluctuations are the hallmark of betting history in the United States. Towards the later part of the 19th century, the country had over 300 race tracks in operation but the turn of the 20th century led to the banning of both racing and bookies. However, pari-mutuel (tote) betting that was introduced in 1908 helped in revitalizing the horse race betting industry and to date, it is legalized in 32 states of the US despite alteration from legislative changes.
In the US, OTB (off-track betting) took off in the mid-20th century when bettors didn’t have to be present at racetracks to wager. New York became home to the first off-track betting parlour in 1970 before it spread to other parts of the country.
Currently, horse betting is rated as one of the country’s multi-billion-dollar industries and ongoing technological developments have given online betting platforms real-time and live-streaming updates. Also worthy of note is the fact that the internet bestowed horse betting with accessibility that allows players to wager from any location on the globe. TVG, the first American online horse betting site came live in 1999.
With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in America in 2020, several racetracks closed down shop and the whole business shifted online. However, following the end of the coronavirus pandemic in 2021, horse racing went back to its normal schedule. in the same vein, the wagering handle topped over $12.2 billion indicating an 11.86% boost compared to the 2020 purses that exceeded $1.1 billion (a 35.77% improvement from the previous year). Important to note that the 2021 wagering handle of $12.2 billion was deemed a milestone in the horse racing betting world as it became the 1st time in over 10 years that betting surpassed $12 billion within a year.
In conclusion, betting is one aspect of horse racing that has played a crucial role in the sport’s survival in both the UK and the United States. Horse betting in the United Kingdom recorded great improvements over the years and the same can be said for the United States. Horse racing betting’s global appeal and popularity have greatly benefited from punters wagering since the inception of the sport.
