Total wagering on live Thoroughbred races at Remington Park was up 48.3% to $54,179,243 this year, officials at the Oklahoma racetrack said Dec. 13.
The 67-day meet ended Dec. 11. It was the first under owner Global Gaming Solutions.
Average daily total handle for the meet was $808,645. Export handle of $48,562,011 was up 53.9% from the 2009 season, an increase of $16,998,226. The 2009 meet also was 67 days.
Ontrack handle for the season was up 15.7% with a total of $5,049,558 played on live racing, up $685,952 from last year. Attendance for the season reached 461,705, up 14.5% from year ago for an average of 6,891 per race date.
A major project to reinvent Remington throughout the year achieved one of its objectives, Remington president and general manager Scott Wells said in a statement.
“The ontrack increase is directly related to the millions of dollars worth of improvements Global Gaming has made throughout the course of the year at Remington Park,” Wells said. “We've been able to completely change the appearance of the place and the effort is ongoing, continuing between this season and the next.
As far as the increases in our export handle, we’ve been successful in marketing our signal to a much wider distribution network. Due to our competitive full fields, more and more serious horseplayers have realized the value we offer. That boosts the wagering pool size which, in turn attracts even larger pool size.
“I hated to see this season end because we were continually gaining momentum in the marketplace.”
Remington expanded the maximum number of starters for a race to 14 for the first time this season. There were 6,481 overall starters through 639 races for an average field size of 10.1. In 2009, Remington Park offered 610 races with 5,796 starters for an average field size of 9.5 per race.
Remington increased the total number of races for the season by 29, up 4.8% compared with 2009.
Average daily purses of $215,582 were up 7.4% compared with a year ago. Total purse money for the season reached $14,443,965, nearly $1 million more than in 2009.
Full-card simulcast handle on live racing dates totaled $5,054,844, up 4.8% from last year.
Remington wagering at in-state offtrack betting parlors in Oklahoma City, Midwest City, and Lawton was down 6% to $567,674. Only four locations served as OTB partners for Remington this year, compared with six in 2009.