North American horse racing consistently proves to be a strong consideration for European betting firms looking to expand their offerings. Vice president of business development at XB-Net René Schneider discusses with iNTERGAMINGi the North American betting industry.
Why do you feel North American racing is a good fit for international wagering providers?
North American racing has proven to be incredibly popular in Europe, South America, Asia and Africa for a number of reasons. The sheer number of racecourses in the US and Canada provides constant racing action each day of the week. Furthermore, a typical racing day in North America lasts for approximately 12 hours, and offers European companies content between 6pm and 6am each day. Live video is available for each track in North America, which allows customers to watch the races that they have wagered in real-time.
American racing’s reliance on commingled-pool wagering provides bettors with plenty of opportunities to wager with their own risk tolerance in mind. For bettors looking to enjoy a day watching and playing the races with minimum exposure, we recommend traditional win, place and show wagering. For bettors looking for larger payouts, we recommend riskier wagers like superfectas, Pick 4s and Pick 6s. Commingled wagering is risk-free to the firms taking the wager, and it allows them to avoid paying ‘experts’ to set, monitor and adjust betting lines. That is money saved and revenue that can drop directly to your bottom line.
What are typical hurdles for companies looking to add North American racing?
Like any other offering, there are a significant number of different hurdles that must be overcome prior to implementing the product.In regard to North American horse racing, this includes executing joint-venture agreements with racetracks to offer their content, connecting to all appropriate tote providers, acquiring and presenting race-day data, arranging for and receiving live track video, maintaining relationships with regulators, handling back-end settlements with tracks and offering expert commentary and selections to customers.
This feature can be read in full in issue 5 of InterGaming magazine.
