NEWJERSEY LAUNCHES FIXED-ODDS HORSE RACING – COULD OTHER STATES...

NEWJERSEY LAUNCHES FIXED-ODDS HORSE RACING – COULD OTHER STATES FOLLOW?

Horse Racing New Jersey News Sports betting

PostedBy Brant James on August 10, 2021

New Jersey became the first state tolegalize fixed-odds horse wagering last week, potentially setting it up asa leader in the American gamblingindustry again three years after it helped set legal sports betting onto a national trajectory.

With a signature from Gov.Phil Murphy, the long-held ambition of Monmouth Park ChairmanDennis Drazin and numerous others became law, but regulations muststill be formed before New Jersey bettors will be able to wager on horse races with the same odds system as other sporting events.

But it’s finally happening.

“The big, big issue here isintroducing an innovative product to horse racing, which hasn’t been done inover 50 years,” New Jersey lobbyist Bill Pascrell III of PrincetonPublic Affairs Group told PlayUSA. “Number two now, afixed-odds bet on horse racing is a horse bet, not a sports bet. So it’s nottaxed.”

In New Jersey, online sports betsare taxed at a rate of 13% if placed online – as the overwhelming number are –or 8.1% at sportsbooks.

USMAY FINALLY CLOSE GAP ON GLOBAL HORSE BETTING MARKETS

Although most of the worldcurrently uses fixed-odds horse wagering, where bettors lock into the price at the time a bet is made, the United States still largely utilizes a pari-mutuel system Pascrell and Drazin deem antiquated. In pari-mutuel wagering, bettors compete for prices with each other and final odds aren’t actually final until all bets made before the start are tallied.

“Consumers now who go in won’t be able to be beatup by the whales,” Pascrell III said in comparing fixed-odds to pari-mutuel.“You place a bet on a 10-1 and then you realize you’re only getting 3-1 becauseby the time it clicked off, the whales came in and made it a favorite. You gotscrewed. It helps the pedestrian consumer because he’s getting a fixed odds betand it’s not going to move.”

BetMakers, which in June bought Sportech, is currently the only managed trading services company offering a fixed-odds platform licensed to serve New Jersey. As such, BetMakers will devise odds, manage risk and secure deals with tracks and horsemen’s associations to offer fixed odds on their cards.

In July, PointsBet, an Australian-based sportsbook that has partnered for fixed-odds horse betting there, entered into a deal with BetMakers to offer fixed-odds horse wagering in New Jersey. PointsBet, and therefore any other sportsbook that partners with BetMakers, would be able to offer parlays that include horse races and more typical sporting events.

Pascrell III said theover-arching importance of the deal was to bring more security for New Jerseyhorsemen and update a wagering system “that has been in adownward spiral for a long time.”

“There’s all kinds of otherinteresting prop opportunities, but the good news here is it’s no longer asports bet, officially,” Pascrell III said. “It’s now a horse bet that benefitsthe industry, unlike the pari-mutuel system, which has become very antiquated.This can only be done if the track and the horsemen’s group sign off on thecontent. And then those tracks and horse groups will benefit from every betplaced. So it will help subsidize purses, which will get more attention tovarious tracks around the country.”

Monmouth Park signed a 10-yeardeal with BetMakers this year. It ran fixed-odds cards on a trial basis aroundits signature Haskell Invitational in 2018 and 2019, with DraftKings participating.Minimum bets under the new system would be a dollar.

WHATSTATES FOLLOWED NEW JERSEY IN FIXED-ODDS HORSE BETTING?

Pascrell III theorized that as manyas 10 states could follow New Jersey within a year. He said states that are “really ripe to go” include Ohio, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Illinois and Michigan.

New Jersey proponents offixed-odds horse wagering had been hoping for the second straight year to passa law and have the system ready for full-time use by the HaskellInvitational in July. That timeline missed again, but because the newlaw has authority to employ emergency regulations, a launch should happenquickly with Murphy, as he did with the first legal sports bet, likely to dothe honors in New Jersey. Pascrell III speculated that will happen “by LaborDay if not sooner.”