As Fixed-Odds Wagering Looms, NYRA May Join Monmouth

While it's uncertain if Monmouth Park will receive a green light to begin fixed-odds wagering before its current 56-day meet ends, the future for the concept is looking bright thanks in part to support from a neighbor on the other side of the Hudson River in New York.

Though New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed a bill into law Aug. 5 allowing fixed-odds wagering in the state, Monmouth Park officials are still awaiting a stamp of approval on regulations governing the bet from the Division of Gaming Enforcement, which has up to 60 days to study and then approve or reject them.

After that, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew Bruck also must approve the regulations before fixed-odds on win, place, and show wagers can be accepted through an arrangement with the Australian bookmaker BetMakers.

Given that time frame, which includes a Sept. 26 closing day for the Oceanport, N.J., track, Monmouth chairman and CEO Dennis Drazin is hopeful of taking fixed-odds wagers during the final weekend of the meet, which will also include the closing day running of the $500,000 Nownownow Stakes for 2-year-olds on the turf.

"I'd be surprised if we don't have it by our final weekend," said Drazin, the chairman and CEO of Darby Development, which operates Monmouth Park. "Hopefully the regulations will be signed off on very shortly and we can launch and do some fixed-odds during our September meet."

Yet even if Monmouth cannot secure the proper approvals before the end of the month, bettors will not have to wait until next spring and the start of the 2022 Monmouth meet to place a fixed-odds wager that locks in odds much like sports betting. Drazin said if approval comes after the close of the meet, he is willing to launch fixed-odds wagering both online and at Monmouth Park on simulcast races that his track offers.

"We have other signals and there's no reason why we wouldn't offer them," he said.

Though there will be a Monmouth at the Meadowlands turf-only meet in October, Drazin said he will need approval from Meadowlands owner and CEO Jeff Gural in order to accept fixed-odds wagers on those races.

While there is no deal currently in place with them, one other likely ally for Monmouth Park in the months ahead is the New York Racing Association. In recent weeks, NYRA CEO and president Dave O'Rourke has spoken publicly in favor of fixed-odds and said in a Sept. 5 interview he would be willing to allow Monmouth Park to offer that type of wagering on NYRA races, pending all of the proper regulatory approvals.

"We are absolutely interested. You can point to the experiences with fixed-odds wagering in Australia, but there are definitely differences culturally and how people bet, so for us, New Jersey is a really perfect test market," O'Rourke said. "We can see what the cannibalization will be, what the uptake will be since you will now be on a very broad, big distribution platform that exposes our content to a general sports audience that we have been pushing with our television shows to reach. We've done that, but this is a massive opportunity to provide a ton of people with really good content."

O'Rourke said he has already had several talks with Drazin about fixed-odds and the possibility of using  the NYRA signal or tracks who belong to NYRA Content Management Solutions, which functions as a content agent that buys and sells on behalf of NYRA as well as a number of third-party racetracks actively represented by NCMS.

"I applaud Dennis for trying to change his business," O'Rourke said. "Every state has their own challenges and I think in a lot of ways Dennis has been a pioneer in pushing the front on wagering. I think he's built some protections into the legislation they have so that they can control it to a degree and he has either the most mature sports betting market in the country or is second to Nevada. We're not quite at the same point as New Jersey on fixed-odds wagering. Specifically in New York with the sports betting legislation it carves out horse racing as what I believe is called an allowed event and that's something that we will likely revisit with the state because I think it was done to protect us but it might also limit us in terms of opportunities.

"I think over the next three years you are going to see an evolution in racing's wagering distribution and I hope there is, because if there isn't we might be locking ourselves out of the biggest growth opportunity in a generation."

Drazin was enthusiastic about the possibility of teaming with NYRA.

"If NYRA is able to give us their signal for fixed-odds, we're all in to try it and promote it. It would be a home run for fixed-odds," Drazin said. "I'm very optimistic about working with New York to try and get this done. Dave was supportive of fixed-odds at the Jockey Club Round Table and the gaming conference at Saratoga. I've had discussions with Dave and he seems to want to take advantage of this opportunity. I think fixed-odds are, quite frankly, the future of the sport. It may be slow to start, but five years from now it will be a significant part of the handle."

While NYRA may join the mix at some point, according to BetMakers head of international operations Dallas Baker, there are already nine racetracks other than Monmouth who are on board with allowing fixed-odds wagering on their signals. That group, according to Baker, includes Canterbury Park, Colonial Downs, Delaware Park, Emerald Downs, Fairmont Park, Grants Pass Downs, Lone Star Park, Tampa Bay Downs, and Hawthorne Race Course.

"We have been in discussions with many other tracks and expect to be making more announcements as we get closer to going live," Baker said. "Additionally, in the United States, we will be importing races from most places around the world that will provide 24/7 fixed-odds racing for those punters interested in international venues."

Though Monmouth would become the first United States racetrack to offer fixed-odds wagering, that type of betting has proven to be popular in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, in particular. Baker said BetMakers is currently offering fixed-odds wagering on Kentucky Downs races to its outlets in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. He added that fixed-odds wagering on major American circuits, such as NYRA, is currently available overseas, though due to the time difference those races do not constitute a major share of the market in those foreign countries.

"We have been doing this for 10 years in Australia and we saw the benefits of it," said Baker, whose company will handle the financial risk for Monmouth Park. "We've seen (purses) and handle double. In the United States, the question is how long will it take to resonate with bettors. I know it will be successful, it's just a question of whether it's six weeks, six months, or 12 months. Whatever it is, we're in this for the long haul. We're not expecting a miracle or something dramatic after we take the first bet, but we know once it saturates the market it will become a part of racing's language."

Should NYRA become involved at some point in the future, it would give fixed-odds wagering the kind of boost and support that Monmouth was unable to generate for another concept: exchange wagering. Exchange wagering offered a form of fixed-odds through matching money wagered on a horse to win against bets on it to lose. Though Monmouth introduced exchange wagering in 2016, it failed to generate large enough pools to sustain it because it could not offer races from the largest American tracks, relying instead on venues such as Parx Racing, Evangeline Downs, and Sunland Park.

"Exchange wagering did not work because we did not have the major tracks, but I'm confident that fixed-odds will spread throughout the industry," Drazin said.

Drazin, a practicing attorney, has been anything but shy about adding new wagering concepts. He led the fight to legalize sports betting, winning his case in the United States Supreme Court that allowed New Jersey to accept sports bets in 2018 and opened the door for other states to also handle bets on sporting events. In 2020, even with the pandemic shutting downs sports for a prolonged period, New Jersey outlets handled $6 billion in sports bets, a record total for any state.

"People want Monmouth to be the test case for fixed-odds because of uncertainty over its impact on the overall handle. Is it good or bad? What's the right number for takeout? I'm fine with that," Drazin said. "But if everyone sits there and just deliberates and no one pulls the trigger, we make no progress as an industry. If you don't take a chance, you'll be stuck in the mud forever. We have the bull by the horns and we're going to launch it."

While Monmouth and Drazin press forward with fixed-odds, the future at the Jersey Shore will also feature the construction of a new $15 million Caesars sportsbook on the grounds that will overlook the racetrack. Construction is tentatively slated to begin later this year with the anticipation of opening it next year.