As regular sports leagues remain sidelined, you can point players to horse racing, the ‘sport of kings.’
Bookies with bored sports bettors should point their clients towards horse racing, thereby turning them into horseplayers. By doing so, bookies can make up for lost sports betting revenue. They can also introduce players to a traditional form of gaming that, for centuries, has entertained millions of people.
In the U.S., the “Sport of Kings” started in 1668. Since then, some racetracks have kept the lights on no matter the crisis.
The 2020 coronavirus pandemic is no exception.
Some horse racing tracks are still open despite social distancing protocols in most counties and states.
These days, betting options are difficult to come by. Although the major sports leagues remain sidelined, a few racetracks are open.
Oaklawn Park in Arkansas and Gulfstream Park in Florida run races Thursday through Sunday. Tampa Bay Downs runs races on Wednesday and Friday through Sunday.
A couple of lower-level racetracks run races earlier in the week. Both Fonner Park in Nebraska and Will Rogers Downs in Oklahoma run races from Monday through Wednesday.
Soon, Churchill Downs in Kentucky and Santa Anita Park in California should open. Once they do get things going again, players will have plenty of horse race betting options from which to choose.
Digital racebook provides players low-cost entertainment
Many players stop wagering after football season. Those players either turn to digital casinos or hold off betting until the next football season.
Players that do that are professional sports bettors, but pro-bettors won’t typically make the bulk of a private bookie’s customer base. An individual bookie provides wagering services to mostly casual bettors.
Casual players wager for entertainment purposes. Digital racebooks are the perfect places for low-cost betting entertainment.
But that’s not the only reason bookies should point players to digital racebooks.
Horse racing odds provide significant returns on small investments.
Sports bettors usually have to pay bookie fees. Players pay no juice when they wager on a horse race.
That’s one player advantage. Another player advantage is horse racing odds.
Horse racing is more like casino betting than traditional sports betting. The big difference is that racetracks don’t have a stake in who wins.
Money wagered goes into specific pari-mutuel pools. Odds are calculated based on what horses attract the most money. Payouts are distributed based on calculated odds.
A typical favorite in a horse race offers 2-to-1 odds. For every $2 wagered on a 2-to-1 horse to win, the payout is $6. That’s a 100% profit back to the player.
Bookies don’t take a cut from pari-mutuel pools
Racetracks make money by taking a percentage of every dollar wagered into every pari-mutuel pool. Bookies don’t take a portion because they aren’t a part of the pools.
To mitigate risk, bookies can set maximum win amounts. Players can wager as much as they’d like. They can win only up to the maximum allowed. If the total allowed is $1,000, that’s the most a player can win even if the player wagered a large amount on the race.
Sports bettors that turn into horseplayers remain sports bettors
Sports bettors that become horseplayers don’t stop betting on sports. They continue to bet on both sports and horse races. That’s good news for bookies. Those bookies that turn their clients into horseplayers end up with dual-players that bet on both sports events and horse races.
It’s tough to run a sportsbook and racebook by yourself. If you’re a bookie who wishes to add a digital racebook, contact PayPerHead. PayPerHead is the number one per head bookie software provider that offers sportsbook software tools guaranteed to help boost profits for online casinos, racebooks, and sportsbooks.