Despite bad news on the live handle in Edmonton, overall wagering is up at Northlands Park this year.
Horse Racing Alberta has reported that overall betting -- live and simulcast combined -- has increased seven per cent at the Edmonton racetrack compared to last year. The data is up to November 2.
Gross dollars wagered on live harness racing is down 20 per cent so far this year compared to 2007. The live thoroughbred handle during the summer meet was down seven per cent. However, simulcast wagering is clearly erasing those losses and taking the overall total higher.
"This increase shows there is still untapped potential," said Northlands Park chief racing executive Les Butler. "As technology costs decrease and political/jurisdictional disputes disappear, horse racing's ability to tap this potential will increase. Thus the handle will increase, purses will increase and the number of horses will increase -- all to the betterment of the industry."
Northlands Park is in the middle of its fall harness meet. The campaign is set to end December 21.
(With files from HRA)
Technology for Northlands
Technology for Northlands Live handle boost.
At the little brown jug in Delaware,several young ladies wander through the stands with hand-held betting machines so that folks can avoid climbing the many stairs to get to and from the level where the bulk of the betting machines are situated.
I found i used this service every time the ladies were in my seating area even though
i have no problem with runnung stairs.
Northlands has a great dining/viewing area where it gets very comfy to watch warmups while eating and sometimes this lets one run out of time before scurrying up the steps to place a bet. Given the advanced age of many of the diners i see, i am sure many avoid running those stairs.
It seems like an investment in the hand-held technology and at least one "runner" moving from table to table in that dining room would significantly boost the betting.
Like Keith Clark stated in
Like Keith Clark stated in his radio interview "it's to bad the the Harness Racing industry gets all the cold weather dates as I'm sure our racing handle would be alot higher than what it is. So really it's not at all fair that we compare the handles of these two breeds "Now Is It"!!!!
Maybe if Northlands would
Maybe if Northlands would advertise that there is harness racing going on in Edmonton people would come and bet and the handle wouldnt be so bad !!