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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