Data from Standardbred Canada and the United States Trotting Association indicates that pari-mutuel wagering on harness racing posted an increase North America-wide in 2015.
Numbers indicate that total wagering on Canadian racing surpassed $460 million in 2015, up 10 per cent from the $418 million total in 2014. The number of races with pari-mutuel wagering stood at 12,899 for the year, providing a per race handle averaging $35,827, up 13.35 per cent in 2015. That number was $31,608 in 2014.
Total purses across Canada were also up in 2015. Combined purses offered surpassed $120 million, up from the $110 million offered in 2014.
The total wagering on harness racing at U.S. tracks in 2015 surpassed $1.5 billion, a 1.02 percent increase compared to 2014 according to statistics announced by the U.S. Trotting Association on Wednesday.
During the past year, the $1,512,300,328 wagered on pari-mutuel harness racing nationwide was $15,295,745 more than the 2014 total of $1,497,004,583.
In addition, there was an increase of $15,464,369 (3.79 percent) in total purses awarded nationally with $423,599,755 distributed in 2015 versus $408,135,386 in 2014.
Race days grew year-over-year from 3,695 in 2014 to 3,748 this year, an increase of 53 days (1.43 percent).
The only decline in harness racing’s economic indicators across the U.S. was a 3.86 percent drop in average wagering per race from $39,306 last year to $37,789 in 2015, a difference of $1,517 per race.
(Please note: Includes U.S. and Canadian common and separate pool wagers on races contested in the U.S. Data source: United Tote (US) and Standardbred Canada.)