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July 23, 2024, El Paso, Texas (KTSM) - Ruidoso Downs Race Track and Casino is set to relocate to Albuquerque for the remainder of this year's racing season after flash flooding on Saturday, July 21st ruined a portion of the building, according to a video statement released by general manager Rick Baugh. The rest of the meet will move to the Downs of Albuquerque but will still be run as a Ruidoso Downs meet. The move is due to flooding that compromised bridges and culverts at Ruidoso Downs. Despite the heartbreak, New Mexico’s horse racing industry is uniting to help. “This area has never experienced this kind of flooding. You can’t beat Mother Nature. You just can’t,” Baugh said in a statement. Baugh that he and his staff remain optimistic that horse racing will return to Ruidoso Downs come 2025. Environmental Disasters in New Mexico This summer, the Ruidoso region has had two significant wildfires on June 15 and July 10, which were followed by flooding. The surrounding terrain was severely damaged by the fires, which made the flooding that resulted from the intense rains worse. Local communities and horse racing operations have been badly damaged by these natural disasters.

July 18, 2024 – Just in time for the commencement of Saratoga's much awaited summer racing season, FanDuel and the New York Racing Association (NYRA) have settled a substantial contract disagreement. Horse betting on FanDuel's platforms had been suspended due to a dispute, but it was resolved on Thursday, allowing bettors all over the country to resume on New York racing events. Initial Point of Contention NYRA and FanDuel declared a contract impasse, which resulted in the removal of NYRA material from the FanDuel Sportsbook, FanDuel Racing app, and TVG horse betting app. The timing of this conflict was especially important, since the popular summer racing season was drawing near. NYRA’s vice president of communications, Patrick McKenna shared “NYRA’s mission is to conduct world-class racing for the benefit of the state’s economy while growing the sport and creating opportunities for horsemen and breeders to compete for robust purses throughout the year.” The main point of contention was the extra portion of handling that NYRA requested from wagers placed by citizens of New York State. NYRA agreements used to include host fees solely for content. FanDuel first objected to NYRA's demand for a portion of the material wagered on by New Yorkers, regardless of the game. “NYRA agreements have traditionally been host-fee agreements for content only, but recently they also want a share of New York residents’ play from us regardless of what content those residents bet on. They’ve basically said that if we don’t pay that, then we don’t get access to NYRA content,” Fan Duel Racing’s general manager, Andrew Moore explains. About Saratoga Race Course Starting on Thursday and lasting through September 2, the 2024 summer meet will be held at Saratoga Race Course, one of NYRA's premier horse betting venues along with the Belmont Stakes. Twenty-seven Grade 1 flat races and two Grade 1 steeplechase races with 71 prizes totaling $20.75 million in purses will be held during the 40-day meet.

July 17, 2024 – After an agreement between Darby Development, the owner of Monmouth Park, and NYRA Bets, New Jersey will no longer be a one-app state for horse betting. According to the deal made public on Tuesday, NYRA Bets will take over as the managing vendor of the parimutuel horse betting system in New Jersey. It also opens up the market to new advanced deposit wagering (ADW) platforms. For over ten years, TVG, a division of the FanDuel Group, has been running 4NJBets, the only ADW in the state. When asked about the new partnership, Dennis Drazinm chairman and CEO had this to say “This is a win for the patrons in New Jersey, allowing them to have choices for the first time as to which site they prefer to wager with.” “It’s another step in our ongoing effort to make the racing experience in New Jersey as fan-friendly as we possibly can.” Drain adds.  Wider Variety in Horse Betting Apps on the Rise New Jersey sportsbooks and big ADWs are anticipated to enter the market, providing Garden State horseplayers with additional online options. Tony Allevato, President of NYRA shares “We are pleased to usher in a new era for horseplayers in New Jersey. As the sports betting market continues its rapid evolution, the expansion of NYRA Bets into New Jersey will benefit consumers by increasing competition.”  The New Jersey Horse Racing Commission, Darby Development, and NYRA Bets, the New York Racing Association's ADW platform, must first approve the ADWs. After completing the necessary formalities, NYRA Bets will determine when the applications will go online later this year. There are currently a number of NJ sportsbooks that offer horse betting in other states. FanDuel's sportsbook already incorporates the racing platform into their platform. During the well-liked Triple Crown betting season for horse racing, its shared wallet contributed to an increase in both users and handling. DK Horse is a racing product offered by DraftKings via a different app. It is also in the process of creating a single wallet for all of its gaming apps.

July 9, 2024 – An impasse that caused havoc on handle data during the week of July 4th was caused by the New York Racing Association's demand that FanDuel pay a higher %age of its handle from New York state residents. During that specific week, Belmont at Aqueduct handled 50.4% less money than it did for the week ending on July 9, 2023. Every week featured the Belmont Derby and ancillary prizes on the Saturday after July 4. In comparison to July 3–9 of last year, there was an 8.3% decrease in the overall handling from Monday to Sunday due to that kind of dip on the most popular signal in North America. However, removing Belmont at Aqueduct left all other tracks with a strong increase of 10.1%. Andrew Moore, the General Manager of Racing at FanDuel only had this to say in an email “We’ve seen a negative impact for sure, but due to our overall volume, not nearly as bad as NYRA has. This situation is bad for almost everyone, us, NYRA, and fans.” Due to a contract dispute between NYRA and FanDuel, fans cannot view or wager on NYRA content on FanDuel. This will certainly impact Thursday's Saratoga opener, as well as Belmont at Aqueduct. According to FanDuel, the NYRA requests an extra 2% of all handling from New York residents, including wagers on races held in other jurisdictions, in addition to the customary host charge. Host-Fee Agreements FanDuel stated that the NYRA wants a %age paid on all transactions from New York residents, which would include bets made on races in other jurisdictions, in addition to the customary host fee, which is paid by third-party bet takers to the host track. "NYRA agreements have traditionally been host-fee agreements for content only, but recently they also want a share of New York residents' play from us regardless of what content those residents bet on," Moore said. "They’ve basically said that if we don’t pay that, then we don’t get access to NYRA content. This sort of local market access is a common fee in ADW wagering, but the issue here is that we already pay it. We pay a 5 % state origin tax to New York state based on New York residents’ play on horse racing, around $18 million a year. NYRA management has told us that they don’t feel they get a fair cut of that tax, and I don’t disagree. But the state handles that distribution, not us. We have already been paying NYRA an additional %age of New York residents’ play, but they want to increase that and that’s the crux of the impasse." The NYRA racing manager adds. FanDuel declined to provide market share or handle statistics, but the difference is noticeable when looking at the total handle. From July 3–9 of last year, NYRA handled 30.5 % of all dollars; this year, it only handled 16.5%, and the following eight tracks handled 51.2 %, up from 39.2 % in the previous year. NYRA was hesitant to credit its drop in handle to a lack of distribution, noting that Belmont Derby day, July 6 this year, and July 8 last year, was down 51.8 % on a 28 % drop in field size and one fewer race. New York-Based Horsemen Affiliations and Groups Rally with NYRA When asked about the NYRA and Fan Duel dispute, Tina Bond, the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association president had this to say: “New York's horse owners are deeply invested in making the NYRA racing product the best in the country. We staunchly agree that fair compensation for that investment is imperative. If the New York Thoroughbred industry thrives, we all benefit." NYRA negotiates signal contracts from July 1 to June 30 of each fiscal year. NYRA requested comparable terms from all of the main ADWs in a letter to account-wagering providers of this year's renewal. What Churchill Downs Inc. and 1/ST Racing agreed upon is unknown, but NYRA content was accessible last week on both businesses' platforms and is expected to be accessible at Saratoga this week.

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.

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.

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.