NYRA says horse racing remains popular despite OTB challenges

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Over the weekend, Catskill Off-Track Betting stopped taking wagers on its Interbets website and kiosks at partner bars and restaurants.

New York Racing Association Vice President of Communications Patrick McKenna said the corporation faced unique challenges with no physical harness racing track or brick-and-mortar OTB facilities in the counties it serves.

“What that does is prevent them from exposing new customers to potentially an online platform,” McKenna said.

While the state’s other Off-Track Betting corporations are not currently facing the same structural issues, McKenna said that’s in large part due to revenues from video lottery terminals. According to state Gaming Commission data, the total amount OTBs distributed to counties from horse racing handle was just $3.5 million in 2023.

“If you zoom out, this is an opportunity to potentially rethink the OTBs structurally statewide. The revenue that they have generated that is then sent to counties as public benefit corporations has declined by nearly 80% since 2009,” he said.

Over the same 15-year period, NYRA, which conducts thoroughbred races at Saratoga, Aqueduct and Belmont, has seen its daily handle increase year over year and annual handle at least remain flat at around $2.2 billion.

“When you step back and ignore some of the conventional wisdom that suggests that this is an industry that’s contracting, when it comes to world-class racing on the thoroughbred side, the sport is on sound footing,” McKenna said.

He said other metrics, like track attendance and television ratings, suggest the sport is as popular as ever. McKenna believes NYRA has succeeded where OTBs have struggled because it more successfully transitioned to the new realities of online and mobile gambling.

“In 2020, that shift, because of COVID, really accelerated to the point where you’re not seeing throughout the course of the year that in-person customer base that an OTB system, whether it’s in Western [New York] or throughout the state, relies on,” McKenna said.

NYRA announced Saratoga Race Track will host the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival again this year as it continues a nearly $500 million of the Belmont track. For the first time, Saratoga will also host a special Independence Day racing festival from July 3 to July 6.