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June 27, 2024 – British broadcast giant BBC Radio 4 announced that its Today program will no longer be covering horse-racing tips. The show’s presenter Amol Rajan announced on air that the program that’s been running for 47 years will be scrapped from the show.

Horse racing tips are typically broadcast at the end of each sports vertical starting at 6:30 am, 7:30 am, and 8:30 am, six days a week, except for Sundays. Rajan claims that it will be a “significant blow for the profile of the sport as it battles to maintain relevance with the wider public.”

When asked about the decision, BBC says “After careful consideration, we have decided to focus racing tips on the big races across the year. The Today program remains committed to covering racing news and this will continue on the program’s sports bulletins.”

Politically Sensitive Subject at a Precarious Time

BBC executives were looked into by a Daily Mail reporter claiming that the network was considering the drop of the racing tips segment due to anachronism. Some argued that it wasn’t on par to encourage gambling activity at a politically sensitive time.

The chair of the Betting and Gaming Council told Racing Post, Michael Dugher shared his thoughts after the network’s announcement on Monday, “I suspect there have always been people at BBC Radio 4 that regard the racing tips as a bit ‘below stairs’ and, if they like racing at all, they only care about the big ‘dressing up’ meetings like Royal Ascot or Cheltenham.”

“Millions of ordinary people enjoy a regular bet – whether that’s on bingo, the lottery or sports like racing. There’s definitely more than a hint of snobbery from the Today program with this decision.” Dugher adds.

July 2, 2024 – The annual Triple Crown is a season for horse bettors and horse racing enthusiasts to come together and place wagers on the best of the best horses in the country. This year, the Triple Crown season saw a record handle of the new customers in the thousands.

FanDuel reported significant growth in all areas of its product line between the Belmont Stakes, Preakness, and Kentucky Derby. More than 800,000 customers have wagered on the Triple Crown through its online sportsbook, FanDuel Racing app, and TVG horse betting app, executives informed LSR on Tuesday.

A 10% handle increase via the three FanDuel platforms was driven by a 15% increase in total players over the previous year's Triple Crown. However, FanDuel did not give a precise amount of money.

Andrew Moore, GM of FanDuel Racing did share that “It was a great Triple Crown driven by having horse racing in (the sportsbook app.)” In terms of expanding operations, Moore said “What we will be tracking going forward is whether horse racing would be something we make prominent in the sportsbook on an evergreen basis or only at select moments through the year.”

Direct Access to Site Sky Rockets

Through the FanDuel Sportsbook, more than 550,000 bettors directly on the Triple Crown, an increase of 20% from the previous year. FanDuel numbers increased when legal sports betting in Kentucky became available for the first time during a Kentucky Derby.

Sign-ups also saw a spike from broadcast deals between New York Racing Association (NYRA) and FOX Sports. While NYRA did not give any numbers on the Belmont Stakes sign up, they did mention that registration shot up by 159% to since 2022, which was the year FOX began airing the race.

Regular Programming

FOX Sports will be the network that NYRA continues to air during the summer. As they have done since 2016, the duo will host Saratoga Live, a program centered around betting, every race day. The major races around the country, including this year's DraftKings-sponsored Travers Stakes on August 24, will be televised on Saturdays on FOX.

July 4, 2024 – On Friday, lawmakers in New Jersey passed two legislation pertaining to horse betting to stabilize and sustain the racing business financially.

The legislature's two houses agreed to keep the $20 million yearly horse racing purse subsidy in place. Both Senate Bill S3203 and Assembly Bill A2610 received unanimous votes on Friday.

The horse betting business welcomed Gov. Phil Murphy's 2019 approval of an initial $100 million over five years to fund purses. The most recent bill increases those monies by an additional five years.

Funding for the Sports Niche

The state's general fund will provide the $20 million subsidy. The other half will go to harness racing, and the other half to Monmouth Park to sustain thoroughbred purses.

When asked about the extra boost in funding, the CEO of Monmouth Park, Dennis Drazin had a lot to say. “This $10 million helps us remain competitive with other East Coast tracks and attract top-quality horses to New Jersey,” Dennis Drazin, CEO of Monmouth Park, told LSR on Monday. “Gov. Murphy has always had the industry’s back, and we expect him to sign the bill,” Drazin adds.

The money is only intended to support racing purses. The track operations at Monmouth Park, where construction of a new Caesars Sportsbook is underway, will not be supported by it. The best horses are usually drawn to higher prizes, which in turn draws more horseplayers. The tracks use the increased money from greater horse betting to pay for operations, development projects, purses, and other expenses.

The Jockey Club reports that Monmouth Park awarded prizes of $28.4 million for 541 races in the previous year. In 2010, 50 racing days with payouts of an average of $1 million were offered at Monmouth Park in collaboration with the state government.

Racing purses reached a 20-year high in the middle of the 2000s when $67.8 million was given out in 2007. New Jersey held around 1,200 thoroughbred races in 2003; however, in the last few years, that number has been slashed in half.

“We want to run more, but having more races means we could not be as competitive with purses,” Drazin adds.”

Future Additional Revenue

In order to compete with the upcoming casinos slated to open around New York City, Drazin wants to provide more gaming to New Jersey.

Finding a means to maintain that business in New Jersey is the goal, he continued. He recommended a casino or playing slots at Monmouth Park or the Meadowlands. Retail sportsbooks are currently available on-site at both racetracks.