Across the world, horse racing has been one of the most popular sports in the betting industry for over a century.
Here we are in 2024, and the horse racing betting industry remains as popular as ever. And with the 2024 Kentucky Derby race coming up, sportsbooks across the United States are set to make large sums of money.
Epicenter and Messier are the co-favorites to win the 2024 Kentucky Derby at 12/1, followed by Smile Happy, (14/1), Corniche (14/1), Newgrange (16/1) and Zozos (16/1). The DraftKings New York sportsbook was recently launched by Bookies.com, and they’re currently offering new customers a 20 percent deposit bonus up to $1,000.
The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 essentially barred sports betting from taking place across the country.
But in 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the act violated the Tenth Amendment, which essentially made gambling legal across the country. Several states have since legalized some forms of gambling (in-person, online, mobile).
The states of Louisiana and New York recently legalized sports betting. Both states have taken in massive amounts of revenues from the industry. Bettors in New York have already placed wagers worth nearly a combined $3 billion.
The Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana hosts the annual Louisiana Derby and the Risen Star Stakes. The Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York hosts the Gotham Stakes and Wood Memorial Stakes, also parts of the Road
The Sunshine State hosts its fair share of key horse racing events, too: The Fountain of Youth Stakes (at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida), the Tampa Bay Derby (Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar, Florida) and the Florida Derby (Gulfstream Park).
There has also been a major push to have gambling legalized in the State of Kentucky, which of course hosts the Kentucky Derby (at Churchill Downs in Lexington).
With all these states in the U.S. allowing some form of gambling — be it online, in-person or mobile — it’s naturally going to lead to more interest in high-stakes betting events like horse racing.
As such, there is no reason to think the horse racing betting industry will decrease. As more and more places in America move toward permitting gambling, the industry is only going to welcome gamblers — and of course more money — over time.
Social & Entertainment Aspects
Horse racing may not be the most popular sport in a major sports gambling place like the U.S., compared to the NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA and NCAA sports.
But horse racing still has a large following across the country, as evidenced by the television ratings of the Kentucky Derby, which attracts well over 10 million viewers in America on NBC annually.
There are several reasons why horse racing has been and remains so popular. Bettors can easily feel turned away from gambling on sports leagues/games that they aren’t knowledgeable in. For instance, a non-football fan may have little to no interest in betting on NFL games if they don’t follow the league and its teams closely.
But in horse racing, the game is far more unpredictable. There are several key factors to notice, such as the shape of the course, the weather conditions and length of the track. Some horses run better in rain and mud compared to others, and some horses will display less speed but better stamina.
You don’t have to be an expert on the specific horses, jockeys and race tracks to win money in horse racing.
It can be fun to randomly guess the winners at your local race tracks, even if you aren’t deeply educated in the game. There are plenty of citizens who go to the trace track and put down some money just for the fun of it. It’s the same purpose as a casino: You’re mostly there to have a good time, and winning money comes as a mega bonus if anything else.
Placing bets and enjoying the horse races is a pastime for countless people across the world. It’s an exciting and highly entertaining way to socialize with large groups of friends. You can spend an entire day there, if not hours or even minutes.
Whether it’s major events like the Kentucky Derby or your local race track, it’s clear and obvious that the horse racing betting industry is here to stay long-term, especially with gambling getting in more and more parts of the world.
Horse racing unpredictability
From soccer to basketball, even MMA to some extent has some element of certain prediction than many bookies reduce the odds of the big guns in the game while giving lower chances to the fishes as the whale gets smaller ones.
More so, the predictability of these sports makes the bettors wager loads of money of smaller odds but the winning return is very lower in comparison to the wagers. But with horse racing, the element of unpredictability bream the wagers to the unequivocal hopes with bigger odds at stake
While many pundits might have back a certain horse rider to be the best in a race an unknown racer may leapfrog from nowhere because there are many factors that build up to a race and while their bookies might have studied these factors, their inability to have a certainty gives many bettors the chance to wager to with lower waging power with high expected return.
While it’s obvious that other sport have seen lots of upsets in there rank as many would not have expected AS Roma to come back from 3-0 down at first leg against Barcelona in a thrilling champions league encounter
However, with horse racing, it’s a sport where a horse that is ranked at a very huge odds if 100/1 could end up winning a race have made many people fashion their chances with the sport. Though horse racing is not among the most populous sports, horse racing popularity is among the best and thanks to its unpredictability.