Betting hits "89 billion euros" globally!

Hope you are adding your wee bit?

Interesting article, do you have the SA stats??

HORSERACING takes place somewhere in the world, on average, every three minutes, and in 2007 that involved 233,161 different thoroughbreds participating in 154,498 Flat and jump races.

With few national exceptions, horseracing and betting are interlinked, and last year the sport produced turnover of €89 billion, of which Japan alone contributed €19bn.

The figures are contained in a new report, The Economics of Racing, presented to the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities conference in Paris and intended to be a guide to the economic relations between the different sectors, from breeding and betting to employment and taxation.

The contents are largely based on research carried out by UK-based Deloitte Consultants two years ago, with updated statistics.

IFHA executive director MauritsBruggink, who introduced the report, said: “It contains no revolutionary theories and does not make any political statements, but is intended to best used when read by policy makers, many of whom are not familiar with our industry.

“This could be the newly appointed director in the ministry of agriculture with responsibility for breeding, or the official at the ministry of finance who is drafting a new gambling licence, or members of parliament discussing taxation on the sales of horses, and so on.”

Bruggink added: “Government relations are often undervalued in our industry, although both racing and wagering are usually extremely regulated. This report should help people in renewing contacts with those politicians and officials who directly or indirectly affect horseracing.”

Other key 2007 statistics

>> Nearly 320,000 horses were involved in the thoroughbred breeding industry – around 9,000 stallions, covering 192,000 mares, to produce around 118,000 foals.

>> There are around 1,500 racecourses in the world, which staged 146,710 Flat races and 7,788 over jumps, involving 213,401 and 19,760 different horses respectively. The global average number of runners was 9.3 on the Flat, and 10.8 over jumps, with the average starts per horse 6.4 and 4.3 respectively. Ireland had the biggest average field sizes (13.2 Flat, 15.0 jumps); Lebanon had the lowest Flat field size, 6.1, and Norway the lowest over jumps, 6.4 from 9 races.

>> Total betting tax was around €7.3 billion. Australian bookmakers made the highest return to punters, 90%; Turkey made the lowest, 48.8%.

>> Global prize-money, including premiums, was €2.3 billion. Average prize-money per race was highest in Hong Kong (€91,558) and lowest in Slovenia (€476). Britain's averages were €15,211 (Flat) and €15,048 (jumps), and Ireland's €32,457 (Flat) and €19,814 (jumps).

>> The USA produced the most foals, 34,350, followed by Australia (18,255) and Ireland (12,633). Britain produced 5,839; Madagascar produced 4.

Any indication of how much of it was spent on Ngong, Borrowdale, blind totoe French, and Swedish chariot racing, or would that be too much of a Ben-hur to establish.