As the 2023 live racing season at Batavia Downs reached the halfway mark, the numbers show that bettors came out in full force and that may lead to the track's most profitable year since Western Regional Off Track Betting (WROTB) reopened the property for racing in 2002.
Through the first 26 days of the scheduled 53-day summer/fall meet, the total handle is up 57 per cent over the first 26 days of the 2022 season, with an average nightly handle of $240,438, compared to $153,229 at this point last year. And Don Hoover, Director of Live Racing, is expecting this surge to continue.
“Based on what we are seeing to this point of the meet, I believe these numbers will hold true throughout the remainder of the 2023 live season and easily eclipse the previous high-water mark [since WROTB purchased Batavia Downs] of $146,987 per night set in 2021,” said Hoover. “We had a very strong winter meet at the start of this year that set two daily handle records [for the WROTB era] on consecutive Wednesdays and the momentum for our product has clearly carried over to our current meet. As a result, I expect this substantial increase in wagering dollars to continue throughout the second half of the season.”
Hoover is also quick to point out that it has been a total team effort that has resulted in this increase.
“More horses are stabled on the grounds at Batavia Downs right now than in previous years, directly resulting in more races and fuller fields that lead to more wagering opportunities. And with the Tioga Downs meet recently coming to a close, we will most likely see more ship-ins from those horsemen as well, providing an even larger pool of horses to fill all our classes. And our simulcast department has been hard at work sending our races to more outlets throughout North America which in turn, exposes more customers to our product."
Batavia Downs is currently racing at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday right through Oct. 28. Then the schedule changes to 6 p.m. on Wednesday and Saturday from Nov. 1 through Dec. 9, which is the final night of live racing for the meet.
(Batavia Downs)