US Poker – The dust has settled from the 140th Kentucky Derby. California Chrome celebrated in the winner’s circle on Saturday. Bettors that picked California Chrome to win took home $2.50 for every $1 bet. Many other wagers were placed on the annual betting tradition.
Churchill Downs held a large portion of the action. Win, place and show bets saw a 17.5 percent hold. Exotics had 22% taken from the prize pool. This was up from 16 percent and 19 percent in 2013, respectively. Churchill Downs booked $186.6 million in bets on Saturday across the entire race card. Winning bettors took home $147.8 million. That is a hold of 20.8 percent.
Some reports draw publicity to the fact that the Kentucky Derby handle is larger than the amount Nevada sports books draw for the Super Bowl. Nevada sports books wrote $119 million in tickets for this year’s Super Bowl. The number is probably only about one percent of the total amount actually wagered on the game. The rest was wagered at online sports books or local bookies. The Kentucky Derby has a much wider reach through legal off-track betting facilities and regulated online sites. In other words, that comparison is apples and oranges.
One comparison that is valid is the hold on sports betting in Nevada. Straight bets have a juice of 4.5 percent. Exotics have a juice in the 15 percent range, depending on the wager. This is much lower than that of horse racing.
Churchill Downs does not get to keep all of the hold. It has a massive overhead. The venue has a large staff to pay for, as well as the grounds to keep. Kentucky takes 1.5-3.5 percent of the total handle for taxes. The horsemen’s purse also comes out of the hold.
