Betting handle on U.S. Thoroughbred races dropped in 2024 for the fourth time in five years according to the table of economic indicators posted Friday by Equibase.
Even though handle remained higher than $11 billion for the fourth year in a row, wagering dropped 3% to $11,265,210,514. A similar decline showed up with the reporting of 3,787 race days, 30,852 races and 229,748 starts.
Conversely, available U.S. purses rose nearly one-half of a percentage point with the amount paid going up a fraction of that to more than $1.2 billion. With fewer date and slightly higher rewards, there were $346,498 in purses available on the average race day, up nearly 3%.
All this compares with the annual inflation rate of 2.7% from the most recent government reporting of the consumer price index.
Wagering had a bigger year-over-year drop in the second half of 2024 than the first with a nearly 5% decline after July 1 compared with 2% before that. The fall quarter also had a 5% reduction in bets with December experiencing a 14% plunge. Last month also had drops of nearly 9% in purses paid and 6% in the number of races that were run.
The last time there was a jump in betting handle was 2021, when U.S. Thoroughbred racing took in $12.2 billion compared with $10.9 billion during COVID-affected 2020, according to The Jockey Club.
The increase in available purses for all of 2024 was the third in four years, virtually offsetting the 0.3% drop in 2023. It was the third consecutive year that available prize money was higher than $1.3 billion.
