CALENDAR QUIRK ADDS TO MARCH U.S. WAGERING DECLINES
Wagering on U.S. races fell by nearly 14% in March, in comparison to the same month in 2008, as the slowdown in the economy and problems in the racing industry continue to negatively impact the economic indicators of the business. The numbers for March may look worse than they actually are because of the way the calendar fell, with only eight weekend days in 2009 compared to 10 weekend days in March 2008.
With those March numbers in the books, pari-mutuel handle for the year is now down 9.35% from the first three months of 2008. There was a 2.1% drop in race days in March of this year (for the year, the number of race days is up by 1.32%), and U.S. purses fell by 6.76% in March. Overall, purses are down 3.47% on the year.
A total of $1,064,958.489 was wagered on U.S. pari-mutuel races in March, down from $1,237,390,018 in March 2008, a decline of 13.94%. Handle is highest on weekends, so having 20% fewer weekend days this March exacerbated the bad news.
The information was compiled by Equibase.
|
Indicator
|
March 2009
|
March 2008
|
% Change
|
|
Wagering on U.S. Races*
|
$1,064,958,489
|
$1,237,390,018
|
-13.94%
|
|
U.S. Purses
|
$79,448,400
|
$85,210,482
|
-6.76%
|
|
U.S. Race Days
|
419
|
428
|
-2.10%
|
|
Indicator
|
YTD 2009
|
YTD 2008
|
% Change
|
|
Wagering on U.S. Races*
|
$3,107,300,603
|
$3,427,730,759
|
-9.35%
|
|
U.S. Purses
|
$215,898,223
|
$223,655,808
|
-3.47%
|
|
U.S. Race Days
|
1,154
|
1,139
|
1.32%
|
Tags: equibase, pari-mutuel wagering, Paulick Report, racing's economic indicators, Ray Paulick, thoroughbred handle, thoroughbred racing economic indicators
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Calendar quirks? Are you serious?
OK……Handle would still be down double digits in March without the “calendar quirk”
I can’t wait to see the day where handle is up 1% in a specific month and a disclaimer is put in that the only reason it’s up is because of a 10 weekend days vs 8 weekend days calendar quirk.
YTD race days up 1.3% handle down 9.3%……….no calendar quirk there.
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:01 pm
ITP. Handle would have been down in March no matter how many weekend days there were.
I was merely pointing out the difference between March of 2008 and 2009. Anyone who follows handle knows weekends are the biggest days. The economic indicators are bad…a drop of 9.3% on the year is not good; but the 14% drop in March is due in part to the quirk of the calendar, and I see nothing wrong with pointing that out. I pointed out a similar situation in December 2008, and I’ll try to identify the situations when the reverse (more weekends in 2009 vs. 2008) is true.
April 4th, 2009 at 1:28 am
In college while getting a degree in economics, I was taught that historically, a bad economy is good for racing as more unemployed people go to the races in that they have more time & are looking to earn money (due to the nature of parimutuel wagering). However, that doesn’t seem to be the case now. The fact that casinos are losing patrons too seems to indicate that people may no longer view (skill) gambling as a way to make money. This may be simplifying things too much. It would be interesting to see if people just don’t consider all forms of gambling as too random (eg, slots) and therefore too risky. Have people been attending casinos just for the fun factor? If so, would that explain a decline in racetrack attendance (ie, we don’t push the fun factor…’cause some tracks aren’t). Do we have any studies on behaviours of modern day gamblers? Maybe I should ride out the economy in grad school, doing lots of research at the track…:)
April 4th, 2009 at 2:53 am
Fair enough Ray.
I just think you think it means a lot more than it really means.
I estimate it to equate to down 12.5% - 13% if you factor in a weekend adjustment.
April 4th, 2009 at 3:05 am
Actually Ray……One of us can’t count….I just counted 9 weekend days in March, not 8. I think it’s 2009. Maybe I’m wrong.
So now its a mini-calendar quirk.
April 4th, 2009 at 11:31 am
ITP…
Goodness gracious, how embarrassing. I must have been wearing mittens when I counted to 10. I stand corrected. The drop is weekend days from March 2008 to March 2009 is one (10%), from 10 to nine.
The calendar quirk obviously has less impact. Thanks for pointing out the error of my counting abilities. I’d say your math is probably correct…on an apples to apples comparison, it would probably be down about 11-12%.