Harness Racing Blog

Below is an interview with Peter V’landys, CEO of Racing New South Wales (Australia). He talks about legislating interstate wagering operations, and the effect they have had on the industry.
I particularly like when V’landys is asked about why interstate legislation was brought about, he says:
“It changed with technology, unfortunately with internet and phone betting.”
Unfortunately!
That’s a [...]

The major problem with racing is that in a now competitive gambling market, it can’t offer the kind of returns other options can. In fact it’s not really beatable in any normal sense of the word.
Unlike craps, roulette and other casino games, horse racing is technically beatable. It’s just that it’s so hard and requires [...]

(Image credit)
The success of Texas Holdem and breakthrough sports like Nascar is often cited as something the racing industry should try to emulate. Here’s the problem:

Click on the column headings to sort. Data is from The Horseplayers Association of North America and Trackthieves.
Also see our Harness Racing Takeout Table.

By Derick Giwner

The moment we have all been waiting for is upon us. After waiting through winter and spring with expectations peaking each month, most of the major names from 2007 which have decided to return - rather then retire - will be on the track this weekend at The Meadowlands.
In fact, 4 of the [...]

Those of you that have been following harness racing online might have noticed there has been a bit of a kerfuffle over the high takeout rates in Ontario.
With that in mind I decided it was my responsibility to add some value to the conversation. So the below harness racing track take out table is the [...]

Dean Towers, blogger and speaker at the upcoming Standardbred Wagering Conference has proposed an immediate reduction in takeout in Ontario, funded by a reshuffling of a tax decrease horsemen received in 1996.
This tax going back into the industry must be repealed and a mechanism must be put in place where it is returned in an [...]

From the NZ TAB Fixed Odds Blog
A popular one is that once the ‘book’ is losing heavily on a runner it is backed on the tote to reduce the liability. While on the odd occasion it would be nice to balance the ‘book’ by doing the above it’s a situation that has never happened in [...]

Pull the Pocket has a great post on the Australian Court ruling that Western Australian Racing’s decision to make betting with Betfair illegal was a restriction of trade.
In a unanimous ruling, seven High Court judges said WA’s Betting Control Act of 2007, which banned Betfair from operating in WA and punters from placing bets using [...]

We have a new blog on the network run by the New Zealand harness fixed odds desk.
Harness Odds blogs about the happenings at the Harness Fixed Odds desk and aims to keep you up with the wagering scene.
If you bet on NZ races then this is the blog to follow. Check it out here [...]