Wagering Trends in New Brunswick

Last week, I looked at the alarming decline in live wagering at Fredericton and noted that it had plummeted 40% since 2008. 

Below is a closer look at the overall wagering picture in New Brunswick over the past five years including the live product, simulcast and inter-track wagering and Telephone Account Betting (TAB). 

The 2013 figures were available up to September 30, 2013 and any forecasts for the full year are based on the numbers until that date.

LIVE WAGERING

All dollar figures are average-per-race as it is the more accurate evaluation. 

·        Fredericton Raceway wagered $1,381 in 2008 and that number has decreased annually to a low of $806 in 2013, a decline of 42%.

·        Exhibition Park Raceway in Saint John wagered $656 in 2008 but dropped 22%, to $541, by 2010 where it has remained steady within a few dollars since then.  So far this year it is $523.

·        Connell Park Raceway in Woodstock handled $2,016 in 2008 with one race program.  This year that number was $1,449.  Interestingly, from 2009-2012 when there were three or four programs raced, the average dipped to $1,247, suggesting Woodstock is better off racing just one night.

As an addendum, here are the live betting handles in the Maritimes through the first nine months of this year:

1.      Charlottetown - $2,323
2.      Northside Downs - $950
3.      Summerside - $890
4.      Inverness - $882
5.      Fredericton - $806
6.      Truro – $756
7.      Saint John - $523

SIMULCAST & INTER-TRACK BETTING (ITB)

During 2009, Horse Racing New Brunswick (HRNB) expanded simulcast and inter-track betting in Fredericton to seven nights a week at Winners Lounge and the numbers took an immediate jump, peaking in 2011 with $857,404.  Last year it dipped to $797,168, a 7% decrease.  This year, the projection is an encouraging $840,488 and that could possibly increase when The Meadowlands re-opens in late November.

The simulcast and inter-track betting in Saint John is troublesome because it has been showing a regular decrease every year for the past five years.  In 2009, Saint John wagered $5,145,998 but, as of last year, that number has dropped by almost $1 million to $4,170,536.  More disconcerting is that the projection this year is for only $3,426,643, a decline of almost one-third in five years.

A quick overview of the numbers suggest that this decline has been more notable on Canadian racetracks whereas the FRITB (foreign pool host racetrack, ie. U.S.) has been fairly consistent.

TELETHEATRES

HRNB is currently operating four teletheatres in the province.  The teletheatre in Dieppe is credited to the Saint John betting totals and teletheatres in Woodstock, Quispamsis and St. Andrews are added on to Fredericton.

The numbers at Dieppe for the past three years are seriously waning, which, in part, accounts for the declining simulcast and ITB numbers in Saint John.  In 2011, Dieppe wagered $1,256,395 but that dropped to $949,976 (down 24%) over the next 12 months and this year the projection is only $773,871, which would be a decrease of 38% in just two years.

As an aside, Dieppe accounted for almost 30% of the wagering dollars in Saint John in 2011, 22% in 2012 and 22% so far in 2013.

For Fredericton, the new teletheatre in Quispamsis has proven to be a solid location with $109,788 wagered at the mutuels through the first nine months this year.  In Woodstock that number is $31,368, a 38% increase over last year.

Overall, the teletheatres for Fredericton account for 14% of the annual total wager though that number is on the rise because of Quispamsis.  

It should be noted that all teletheatre numbers include wagering on both the live and ITB product.

GROSS WAGERING

As noted above, all wagering in New Brunswick has been in a steady decline for the past few years.  Here is a closer look at the totals:

·        2009 - $6,069,741

·        2010 - $6,212.499

·        2011 - $5,444,002

·        2012 - $5,326,635

·        2013 - $4,506,474 (projected)

Considering the Province of New Brunswick rebates the industry 10% of the gross, this year alone it will receive $80,000 less than last year and $150,000 less than four years ago.

A closer look at on-site wagering and teletheatre betting reveal wagering trends across the province:

-        In 2008, Saint John accounted for 92% of all wagering in New Brunswick.  That number dropped to 81% last year and will be approximately 78% this year.

-       Wagering in Fredericton peaked in 2011 at $1,043,013 and has remained within 8% of that total for the past four years including this year.  In that same time period, Saint John peaked at $5,339,335 in 2009 and has decreased 32% since then.

-        Between 35 and 40% of all money wagered in the province is being wagered in teletheatres or through TAB, which itself has doubled since 2008.

The bottom line is that betting in New Brunswick has fallen 25% since 2009, 15% in the last year.  While everything has to be of concern, what is obvious is where the more significant problems are:

-        Live wagering in Fredericton

-        Simulcast wagering on Canadian racetracks, particularly from Saint John and,

-        Teletheatre wagering from Dieppe

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For more blogs on New Brunswick harness racing go to thefrederictonscene.blogspot.ca

For more historical data, pictures and stories please LIKE Fredericton Raceway 125 on Facebook.

 

https://www.facebook.com/FrederictonRaceway125

The Decline of Live Wagering in Fredericton

I grew up around horse racing and my first job was working for Brian Embleton at Fredericton Raceway during the summer of Clipper Seelster’s historic journey in 1982.  My primary job was to assist the race office and write a column for Atlantic Post Calls.  In those days we raced two times a week and the APC published on a weekly basis, so I was usually pretty busy.

I took the time to learn about the operation of a racetrack and Embleton was a great teacher who helped pave the way to my becoming a race track manager many years later.  An early lesson for me was him getting on the telephone to the local radio stations on the afternoon of a race day.  He was looking to drum up some promotional air time for Fredericton Raceway; trying to get the local DJ’s and news and sports people to talk about the race program that night.

He did that when Clipper Seelster came to town - acting on a hunch that something special was going to happen that evening.  He was motivated to get more people out to the track hoping it would translate into a solid night at the mutuels.  Back then a race track manager would measure his success by the pari-mutuel handle and the attendance - remember when you used to have to pay admittance to the racetrack? - which usually went hand in hand. 

He was disappointed that night, however, though certainly not because of what happened on the racetrack.  The disappointment came from the race program only generating a wager of $30,000.

You see, thirty years ago, in an age when there was no simulcast, no inter-track wagering or teletheatres, no VLT’s or Coasters lounges and tickets were purchased $2.00 at a time, an on-track wager of $30,000 was still considered a disappointment on a Monday evening in July.  We hoped Thursday night would be better though, after all it was a payday in Fredericton.

Flash forward almost ten years and Fredericton Raceway experienced its biggest live wager ever on July 1, 1991.  I was Race Secretary by that time and horses were plentiful so I was able to assemble a big 16-dash holiday card highlighted by the Walter Dale Memorial and the Atlantic Sires Stakes pacing show, featuring  the three-year-old pacing colts and fillies.

It was like a Fredericton version of the ‘Breeders Crown’ and the Canada Day afternoon super card was a big draw for horses, owners and their families.  The place was packed with race fans and bettors and at the end of the day the wager was $116,997 for the sixteen races, an average of $7,312 per dash and a new program high. 

This historic occasion was recorded in traditional Fredericton fashion.  It was triumphantly scribbled (probably by Frank Donovan) on the wooden wall in the office under the grandstand, the previous high scratched out.

The only time wagering ever surpassed that high mark was during a couple of FREX weeks but they were always double-header cards and the combined totals of two programs would have exceeded $116,979.

Of course, the 1980’s and early 1990’s were the high point of live wagering in Fredericton and the handle has been on a steady 20-year decline since then.

I became the General Manager of Fredericton Raceway in the early 2000’s and during my seven years there and I was able to anticipate consistent numbers at the mutuels, though not the high marks of the previous decades.   The Canada Day super card would traditionally average $3,000 per dash and the two-year-old Atlantic Sires Stakes races on the New Brunswick Day holiday program were around $2,200-$2,500.  FREX week was good for $2,500 per dash - sometimes higher - and the regular over night events started out around $800 in May and June, building up to $1,200 by July, depending on the weather.  At the end of the year the bottom line was always the same - $1,500-$1,600 per dash except for my final year in 2008 when it was just under $1,400.

This year in Fredericton the average for a live race program was only $805 per dash, the lowest number in decades and more than 40% less than it was five years ago.  In fact, the live wager has dropped steadily and significantly since 2008.  The numbers per race: 

 

·         2009 ($1,166) down 15%

·         2010 ($1,015) down 13%

·         2011 ($914) down 10%

·         2012 ($827) down 9% 

·         2013 ($805) down 3%

Fredericton had been one of the wagering leaders in the Maritimes through the last decade but now lingers in the bottom three along with the other New Brunswick track, Exhibition Park Raceway in Saint John.  It is also interesting to note that, although Saint John has the worst live wagering numbers in the Maritimes ($523) by about 30%; their numbers have remained steady within 3%, suggesting that they themselves have bottomed out.

There are various reasons why live wagering has reached this very low point in New Brunswick and maybe that can be a blog for another day.

I laud the efforts of HRNB and their endeavor to form a mutually beneficial business partnership with Atlantic Lottery Corporation for the future but, if they are successful, they must learn from the failings of the administrators of the industry in Ontario which means not getting caught up in the trappings of the VLT revenue at the expense of the personal experience at the racetrack.  I’m not sure we are as friendly and welcoming as we could be.  

We need to revisit harness racing’s roots and remind ourselves about what made those times so successful and try to abstain from blaming lotteries and government for where we find ourselves today.  The time for blame has passed and, besides, it is not all their fault.

The focus should be on the relationship between the harness racing industry and its most important customer - the person who comes to the racetrack to get close to the excitement of the sport.  It’s not just about the patron who wants to drop his money in a VLT.   

More importantly, it’s about the guy - or girl - who may like the horses or enjoys the competitiveness of racing.  Maybe he’ll want to buy a horse himself some day, or with some friends. Maybe they will bring their friends to the track and spend a few dollars at the wickets, something we have seen in Fredericton in the recent past.

A good experience starts with a professional presentation.  We need an operating tote board that displays real time odds for the novice and serious bettor.  This is critical and I am sure it has been a detriment to live wagering in the province the past two years, especially in Fredericton.  The local newspaper once referred to it as “Mickey Mouse” which does nothing to enhance the image of the sport in the eyes of many.

A consistent race schedule is important as well.  If we want patrons to come to the track they actually have to know when to come.  The racing schedule in Fredericton has literally changed from year to year but the tourism brochures in the city still have harness racing running on Thursday nights at 7:00 pm though that hasn’t actually happened in over two years.  And don’t get me started about the radio ads that ran this year promoting harness racing at Fredericton Raceway on Saturdays it wasn’t even open.  (That happened last weekend and the track has been closed for almost three weeks)

Circuit racing needs to be considered in this province and this business of alternating weeks has been a failure when patrons demand a consistent schedule that is familiar and easy to follow.

And while you always have to grow and change with the times, it might also be helpful to take a look back to the days when Fredericton enjoyed some of its greatest successes.

When New Brunswick again hosts the Atlantic Sires Stakes program (not if, I’m an optimist), go back to the traditional dates and turn the holiday cards into events.  The stakes program brings the horses, their owners and their families to the race track.  It will bring locals to the track and bettors from out of town.

Most importantly, it will create an atmosphere at the racetrack, just like it did a few years ago when crowds would line the racetrack to watch and wager on the horses.

Of course, it will take much more than these few points to reverse the current wagering trends and I’m certainly not implying that we ignore the changes taking place in our business.  Having VLTs at racetracks and capitalizing on the technology now available to wager on our product off-site has a significant place as well.

I just believe that bringing people to the track and betting on the horses are the foundation of our industry and potentially the greatest source of growth.  

I don’t expect we’ll ever scratch out the number 116,997 on the wall but it can serve as a reminder of how great things were and should be.

I wonder if it is still on the wall in that back office.  Maybe next summer I’ll go back and find that out. 

I hope I have to fight through a crowd to get there.

Just like I used to.

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Overall wagering in New Brunswick is down approximately 15% so far this year compared to 2012.  In the next few weeks, I’ll bring you an in-depth look at the wagering trends in the province over the past five years and I will break down where the money is actually coming from.

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For more blogs on New Brunswick harness racing go to thefrederictonscene.blogspot.ca

For more historical data, pictures and stories please LIKE Fredericton Raceway 125 on Facebook. 

https://www.facebook.com/FrederictonRaceway125