Wagering on US Races in 2020 Takes Hit Due to COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic shut down most racetracks in late March and for all of April, leading to a drop in wagering according to year-to-date statistics released by Equibase on May 5.

Through April 30, wagering on US races worldwide is down 6.87% while purses, race dates and races are down significantly more.

In the month of April 2020, compared to April 2019, wagering, race dates, races and purses all had sizable decreases. The few tracks that were racing, including Oaklawn Park, Tampa Bay Downs, Fonner Park, Gulfstream and Will Rogers Downs experienced increases in wagering which led to a huge increase in wagering per race day of 176%.

Overall in the month of April Cumulative purses in April dropped almost 80% from $85.9 million to $17.4 million.

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