This Saturday marks the one hundred and fiftieth operating of the Kentucky Derby and a brand new report is detailing the expansion in betting on the largest occasion in horse racing. Navigating by means of financial fluctuations and technological shifts, the Derby betting panorama has proven spectacular progress, in keeping with a brand new research by Twinspires.com.
The firm, which presents on-line horse race betting, analyzed 70 years of Derby betting knowledge, showcasing main progress and adjusting for inflation to mirror immediately’s financial context. The study discovered nearly a 500% progress in wagering from 1953 to 2023, with deal with rising from $49 million to $288.7 million in immediately’s {dollars} over that point interval.
TV, Expanded Betting Drive Growth
The research factors to some main adjustments within the horse racing business throughout the 70 years reviewed. The first alternative to view the race in actual time on tv got here in 1953, when a grey colt named Native Dancer misplaced to Dark Star. This turned Native Dancer’s solely defeat in a 22-race profession.
However, betting was solely allowed at Churchill Downs on the time. Expanded betting within the latter a part of the twentieth Century introduced main progress for the race.
“The 1980s and ‘90s brought significant changes in technology and the relaxing of interstate wagering prohibitions, enabling the wider public to legally wager on the Kentucky Derby and its corresponding race card,” the research notes.
“Full card simulcasting was in full bloom by the early 2000s, and by that time betting by phone and online through advance deposit wagering (ADW) sites were also contributing to an explosion in growth. In 2003, all-sources handle on the Kentucky Day program had risen to $140.3 million, the equivalent of $232.2 million today. That real term increase was more than double what it was a decade earlier.”
Betting on “the greatest two minutes in sports” has by no means been simpler with so many states now providing legalized sports activities betting. For these seeking to wager on this yr’s race, Florida Derby winner Fierceness is the early favourite at odds of 5-2. Blue Grass Stakes winner Sierra Leone’s odds are available second at 3-1.
