First, it was the Jersey Shore's Monmouth Park shortening its summer meet to three days a week and fattening its purses. The experiment of having fewer but more lucrative race days has worked in every way possible. It has attracted bigger fields for each race, bigger crowds at the track, and more betting money through the windows.
Now, New Jersey is moving forward on a plan to introduce exchange wagering in the United States. Exchange wagering is a bit like Ebay for gamblers. Betfair, which owns the US horse racing network TVG, has been offering exchange wagering in Britain for about a decade, and the company is keen to see US states adopt it as well.
Customers on the exchange can offer each other betting odds. So, conceivably, you can shop around for the best odds on a horse you like. No waiting around until the race goes off, only to see your 5-1 odds plummet to 2-1 at post time. Plus, the exchange takes a much smaller cut of the action than bookmakers or casinos do, for those who bet that way.
It's still unclear how the US government might react to New Jersey's plan, and we still don't know how this might affect the normal parimutuel wagering in which the public sets the odds with their betting dollars. Tracks rely on a "takeout" from each parimutuel wager to run their business. Presumably, they would get a cut from exchange wagering, too, but it could be a smaller cut and exchange wagering could potentially eat into the regular parimutuel business.
On the other hand, offering a new form of wagering might attract new bettors. When I've taken non-racing fans to the track, they often ask -- can I bet against a horse? Technically you can, by not including that horse in exactas, trifectas and multi-race wagers, but exchange wagering would offer an alternative -- a direct bet on a horse to lose.
It's just one example of how an exchange might appeal to new fans and possibly make betting on horse races a bit simpler for some. Lord knows, it's hard to explain how to wager on the ponies to a novice. And that's not a good thing for the sport.
As the only form of legal online sports betting in the US, horse racing should look into this for sure. There will come a day when bettors can legally gamble on other sports online in this country, and something like exchange betting will be HUGE. Can you imagine the tax revenue exchange wagering could generate from the NFL season alone? At some point, states are going to realize this and go all in. The struggling horse racing business can get way ahead of the game by at least considering such innovative ideas.
Unlike some states, it appears New Jersey doesn't have its head buried in the sand.
Or should I say, shore?
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