Woodbine Entertainment president and CEO Jim Lawson held an end-of-season Stronger Together meeting with horsepeople on December 1 covering the 2021 season and the coming year. As with almost all other tracks in North America, Woodbine has been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic since it took hold of the world in March 2020.
Once again, in 2021, the season was delayed by almost two months as provincial health officials were unwilling to allow for horse racing to take place.
“It was frustrating,” said Lawson. “We fought tooth and nail with the government trying to assure them we could race safely. With the delays in the start of two seasons we were in a big hole wagering-wise and you simply can’t make that up.”
But thanks to a strong average field size of an impressive 8.9 horses and the arrival of spectators back to the races by July 1, Woodbine racing rallied. Both Queen’s Plate day, August 22, and Woodbine Mile day, Sept. 18, were very successful.
Woodbine Mile day set a record with $13.85 million wagered on the day while Plate day wagering of $16.1 million was the second highest in the history of the race. Citing the big Plate day, Lawson said this 2022 race will once again be held at a later date, Aug. 21.
“Overall, wagering [in 2021] at Woodbine is up about four to six percent,’ said Lawson. “We are up 53% in wagering on our betting platform, HPI. Our brand is strong and we are the envy of racetracks across North America the way we are filling races.”
Lawson tempered that news with the fact that much of the growth in wagering is from hubs in the United States.
“We are down 14 percent on home market wagering and that is a real concern,” said Lawson. “Ontario wagering is shrinking and is something we need to address.”
Woodbine is set for 133 racing dates in 2022 but Lawson said that number could be smaller in coming years.
“One of the strengths that Woodbine has is that we have as many days as we do, racing from April to December. Horsepeople and jockeys can come here and settle for eight or nine months and raise a family and that is great. But 133 dates is too much racing. Does it mean 115, 120, 125 dates in the future? I don’t know, but it does not necessarily there will be less races and I don’t think it will make a big difference to people to want to race here.”
Regarding Fort Erie racetrack, Lawson was adamant that the overlap “doesn’t work”. Woodbine currently has a policy in the summer that horses sent to Fort Erie to race must stay there for stabling but Lawson suggested this is not enough.
“There are not enough horses in the province to sustain what is going on. There are horses [for Fort Erie] stabling here. Hopefully we can coordinate our condition books.”
There were dozens of horses claimed from Woodbine races towards the end of the season by Fort Erie horsepeople.
The introduction of sports betting in Canada is anxiously awaited by Lawson and his Woodbine team. Legislation was passed with the sports wagering bill that would prohibit outlets to take wagers on horse races and “that was a big win for us,” said Lawson.
The next step, said Lawson, is to ensure that horse racing is included in the roll out of ‘sportsbooks’ and that these outlets should be at racing locations, not casinos.
“We have the customers and the assets,’ said Lawson. “We have a vast off-track betting network and we have tracks. Woodbine Entertainment is the biggest private sports betting company in Canada, bigger than Pro-Line. We can be up and running in a month to six weeks. We have to ensure we are not left out.”
Single event wagering is now open across Canada through provincial lottery corporations but there are reports that Ontario Lottery and Gaming is seeking sportsbooks to be located in casinos.
“The only place in North America where sportsbooks are in casinos is Las Vegas. But sports betting is what we do, not what casinos do.”
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