With a decline of 21 race days when compared with the same month a year ago, total wagering on U.S. Thoroughbred racing fell 1.57% during June, according to statistics from Equibase Company.
Equibase reported a 3.52% decline in U.S. race days last month, from 596 in June 2012 to 575 this year, with total wagering of $934,148,005 compared with $949,012,080 a year ago.
While the total handle fell, the average per U.S. race day handle of $1,624,605 represented a 2% increase over the $1,592,302 June race day average in 2012.
The Equibase report showed total U.S. purses of $109,290,114 in June representing a slight decrease from the $109,521,052 figure for June 2012.
Year to date, wagering on U.S. racing had declined by less than 1% through June, from $5,658,242,084 in 2012 to $5,612,498,374 this year, and total purses had declined by 1.72% from $522,551,299 a year ago to $513,548,431 this year. The average wagering and average purse per race are both up, however, with average wagering 2.77% higher than last year and average purse per race up 1.82% compared with 2012 through June.
Year-to-date U.S. race days had fallen 3.48% from 2,529 in 2012 to 2,441 through the first half of this year.
