- but not enough to stop domestic wagering on the 2020 Flemington carnival growing by six per cent to $667.3 million thanks to a record sum wagered on the Cup itself.
As a result of the TAB crash, turnover dropped from $104 million in 2019 to $80 million on the Stakes day meeting last Saturday – a decline of 23 per cent year-on-year.The headline-grabbing number is the record $221.6 million wagered across Australia on the 2020 Cup race itself – up 17.3 per cent on 2019, with corporate bookmaker turnover growing by more than 50 per cent, Racing Victoria said in a statement released on Friday.
RV said there were three factors for the Oaks day drop - smaller fields than the 2019 meeting, high bookmaker margins on the opening two days of the carnival, which deterred punters, and the absence of crowds. "Engagement with Victorian racing has been at record levels throughout the COVID-19 pandemic with many people gravitating to our sport via digital platforms and multiple broadcast options when other entertainment options were limited," Thompson said.
Stop using the word 'wagered' and call it as it is, 'gambled'. I wonder how many people on jobseeker and jobkeeper gambled their money away?
Well the message from the Federal Government was go out and spend. I hope, being serious, that people betted responsibly in these very trying times.
Gross
Jobseeker
This here is the only reason why horse racing exists. To call it a ‘sport’ is absurd - sports exist and continue to exist for reasons other than gambling. Take away the wagering and horse racing withers and dies. This is how the industry measures ‘success’ - total $$$ wagered 🤮
Not a good thing. Australia has a gambling problem.