As well as covering the sport of horse racing in general, we have undertaken some research and put together this page covering horse racing betting statistics. It is not easy to find information on the subject but read on to find some interesting data which we have found on the BHA (British Horseracing Authority) HBLB (Horseracing Betting Levy Board) and the Gambing Commission websites.
We have summarised this data and of course, there are links to the full data on each of those sites.
It does not matter which sport we talk about nowadays as advertising by bookmakers is everywhere. You find it on racecourses, in the names of races in the programme and at various touchpoints, both live on the racecourse and on your TV screens.
But it is not just racing, many sports use advertising revenue from sports betting and bookmaking companies as revenue generators for their businesses. It has become the norm over recent years, and although recent legislation has changed, with limits being imposed on gaming machines in betting shops, and affordability checks now being muted.
There are calls for and against this and we will see how this plays out over the next twelve months. There is certainly nothing wrong with tackling problem or dangerous gambling, every operator should do this, and it is something we see and support here at Ontheballbets.
Many horse racing fans are also football fans and vice versa, but you might be shocked to know that in a recent study it was racing that came out on top as the most people who bet on a sport that they actually watch.
TOP 10 BETTING RACES BY TURNOVER 2021
As a fan of racing and possibly somebody who bets on horse racing or likes horse racing betting statistics, then we thought the table below would be interesting.
If you were in the pub or at the track with your racing friends and one of them asked you to name the races with the biggest betting turnover for 2021/2022, do you think you could do it off the top of your head?
Great pub quiz question isn’t it?
Well with our horse racing betting statistics, no guessing is needed. Check out the table below with the top race from each month during 2021.
| MONTH | race name | race date | race winner | winners SP | no of runners |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | The Sky Bet Handicap Chase | 30/01/2021 | Takingrisks | 40/1 | 11 |
| February | The Betfar Hurdle | 21/02/2021 | Soaring Glory | 17/2 | 23 |
| March | The Cheltenham Gold Cup | 19/03/2021 | Minella Indo | 9/1 | 12 |
| April | The Grand National | 10/04/2021 | Minella Times | 11/1 | 40 |
| May | The 2000 Guineas | 01/05/2021 | Poetic Flare | 16/1 | 14 |
| June | The Derby | 05/06/2021 | Adayar | 16/1 | 11 |
| July | The Stewards Cup Handicap | 31/07/2021 | Commanche Falls | 10/1 | 24 |
| August | The Ebor Handicap | 21/08/2021 | Soonyboyliston | 10/1 | 20 |
| September | The St Leger | 11/09/2021 | Hurricane Lane | 8/11 Fav | 10 |
| October | The Cesarewitch | 09/10/2021 | Buzz | 8/1 | 32 |
| November | The Ladbrokes Trophy | 27/11/2021 | Cloudy Glen | 33/1 | 21 |
| December | The Welsh Grand National | 27/12/2021 | Iwilldoit | 13/2 | 20 |
So there you have the winners of the top races each month by betting turnover. This certainly shows that the big festival races and the classics on the flat still attract the most betting money across the sport, instead of the bigger handicaps.
If you wish to see the Top 10 races by betting turnover for each month, then check out the official lists from the Horserace Betting Levy Board.
GAMBLING COMMISSION HORSE RACING BETTING STATISTICS STUDY JULY 2022
The UK Gambling Commission undertook the most recent study of horse racing betting statistics in July 2022 and there were a number of findings that were interesting. The full report is available on the Gambling Commission website, but below we have summarised some of the key points from the study which is a shorter read for our visitors.
The statistics below are covering the period from April 2020 – March 2021.
- The total GGY* (Gross Gambling Yield) for the period was £6.9 billion pounds
- The total GGY from horse racing betting in this period was £856.1 million pounds
- During the above period, the number of new account registrations (total sports betting) rose by 10.2% to over 33 million.
- Total funds held in customer accounts went up 31.1 percent to £893.8 million pounds with a strong majority of that from horse racing and football bettors.
*GGY (Gross Gambling/Gaming Yield) is the profit that is made across the betting sector (sports, slots, bingo, lotteries) before any taxes or business costs are taken into account. This figure would include all licenced operators.
HORSE RACING BETTING SURVEY 2022
Recently the BHA (British Horseracing Authority) and the HBF (Horseracing Bettors Forum) undertook a survey of nearly one thousand horse racing bettors.
We had hoped to give a link back to the HBF website, but at the time of writing this, the website appeared to be offline.
Therefore we have taken some of the major statistics and findings and have listed them below.
- Age and Gender. Only 5% of survey responses came from those aged 18-25, and 94% of the respondents were male.
- Betting Frequency. 93% of those surveyed never played FOBTs (Fixed Odds Betting Terminals), and 83% never played online casinos and online games.
- Information Sources. 93% of respondents gather horse racing information online through websites; however, the Racing Post newspaper version was used sporadically by 74% of respondents.
- Betting Concessions. The concession most appreciated by bettors is the Best Odds Guarantee, which was nominated significantly more than any other.
- Racecourse Bookmakers. 91% indicated that on course bookmakers offering the best odds were very important, which compared with each way terms (79%), best odds guaranteed (71%), a friendly attitude (65%), and pitch location (48%).
- In Running Betting. The survey indicated that In Running Betting was a popular betting medium with 48% of respondents having a bet in running in the last year. The survey indicated that if there were faster live pictures available, 33% said they would start betting in running.
- Going Assessments. The survey showed respondents have some concerns about the accuracy of going measurements. 75% had at least reasonable confidence in the official going, 77% in going stick readings, 80% in jockey’s opinions and 89% in going derived from winning times.
SURVEY FEEDBACK
It was interesting to note from the survey that some common themes were voiced by respondents about the overall racing and betting experience
- Increasing the quality of racing and reducing the quantity of (poor) racing.
- Frustration over having their accounts restricted without any notification and the need for a minimum bet liability
- The deteriorating conditions of the on-course racing experience through the cost of entry and food and drink, poorer each-way betting terms and a rise in anti-social behaviour.
- There is demand for a more level playing field in terms of picture latency to stimulate in-running betting.
- Three requirements with regard to better information also regularly occurred:
– Accurate going and race distance information
– Sectional times
– Horse weights
I think it is very interesting to note that the survey shows people want less racing and improved quality. The issue of on-course pricing, especially food and drink costs is an issue tracks need to address, and a key betting frustration is that people have accounts limited by online bookmakers.
The above survey and horse racing betting statistics information has been curated from the BHA website.
