What They're Not Telling Florida Legislators in Big Casinos' Decoupling Battle
Harness Racing at Pompano Park is Rapidly Growing Florida's Gambling Revenue Footprint
During the past three years, Pompano Park has become a major-league simulcasting signal with bettors nationwide.
Since 2013, the Pompano Beach Harness Racing Track--owned by Isle of Capri Casinos--has seen an increase in total handle of 122 percent, with this year's total likely to exceed $60 million.
With Standardbred racehorse training centers and breeding farms dotting the Florida map statewide, it's a testament to the vigorous interest in harness racing that's kept Florida front and center as a worldwide mecca for harness racing breeders, owners, trainers and drivers, and especially their many fans. It's also proof that taking the right approach to harness racing as a viable business, with attention to marketing and operations, can reap the type of financial performance Florida is seeking from its existing gambling market, without unnecessary predatory expansion.
What changed? What helped Pompano Park gain market share through a sport unfairly and inaccurately characterized by some as waning? Simple: Pompano Park relied on the fundamentals and stuck with them. Harness Racing came through--once again proving its unwavering market share--a powerful product enjoyed by more families nationwide for its welcoming and participatory flair.
The past couple of seasons, things have changed for the better at Pompano Park. Total handle exceeded $44 million in 2015 and topped $350,000 per card. The track has already exceeded $54 million in total handle this year, averaging just shy of $500,000 per racing card. That's an increase in total handle of 122 percent in three years.
Pompano Park's Pick Four pools have grown tenfold. Many harness racing cards attract betting interests of a million dollars per race, goaded by a mandatory payout in the Super High Five.
Lowering the takeout had the effect of a neon sign to bettors, flashing "We want your business!!" Over time, as the pools grew, so did the guarantees, helping the bet along even more.
Pompano Park has started to distributing its simulcast signal more. The result? You can bet on harness racing and Florida's Pompano Park almost anywhere in the nation--at any ADW, OTB, or racetrack in North America. Believe it or not, not all tracks do this.
Exposing the harness racing product to more people is often underutilized in other forms of horse racing, but not so at Pompano Park. TVG now shows Pompano racing quite often, while California outlets have begun taking the races for their bettors (known as a difficult feat, because California has a quota on how many outside-the-state races can be shown).
These days, racetracks nationwide have standard walls of televisions showing racing from everywhere imaginable. If your simulcast show is old and dull, it does not stand out. But Pompano Park has revamped its signal, which now looks fresh and professional.
A little-known nuance of successful simulcasting: When everyone else is sending the horses away from the starting gate while two or three other tracks are doing the same thing, too-early or too-late post times can be a huge factor in handle growth--or the lack of it. Pompano Park has moved its post times later, so the Standardbred races there rarely go off when another track does (meaning it's more likely for out-of-state bettors to notice Pompano races and bet on them).
Pompano Park's solid social media presence has really helped handle by driving "eyeballs." For instance, if there's a carryover, players will hear about it on digital mediums like Twitter. In fact,a flash carryover with barely 10 minutes notice brought in $46,000 in new money just recently.
Most importantly, Pompano Park has started to attract more horses per race--a huge difference that allows for deeper fields and slightly higher payoffs for "punters."
The most exciting thing about the growth of this often-overlooked Florida track is that there's a chance this can get even better. Pompano Park is on the cusp of a statistical increase that often comes when the handle is above $800,000 per card--deep enough to start attracting major worldwide betting interest.
Big players are starting to discover Pompano Park--a bright outlook with the promise of growing success in Florida's tumultuous gambling market.
To read the complete story in Harness Racing Update, click HERE (go to pages 5 and 6).
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