Del Mar wagering figures lower than originally reported

DEL MAR, Calif. – If those significant increases in advance deposit wagering for Del Mar’s meeting looked too good to be true, turns out they were.

Del Mar announced late Friday that bets run through advance deposit wagering provider TVG had mistakenly credited an additional $9,681,116 in handle to Del Mar from Aug. 21 through Sept. 3, an error that was discovered during a post-meeting audit.

As a result, Del Mar’s average daily handle will now be reported as $12,392,429 for its 37-day meeting, adjusted downward from the $12,651,175 in daily average handle that was reported upon the meet’s closing on Wednesday. That is still a 6.6 percent increase in overall handle from a year ago.

According to Del Mar, the error occurred because of a malfunction in reports submitted by TVG to CHRIMS, which is the official data base and reporting agency for California racing.

A letter from John Hindman, the general counsel of TVG, to Mark Thurman, the president and chief executive officer of CHRIMS, said that the improper reporting “had no impact on customer wagering or funds and was limited to the reports used by ADWs and racing associations for accounting and fee settlement purposes.”

This downward projection could impact Del Mar’s retroactive purse distribution, which, while still significant, could now be lower than what was believed on Wednesday. However, Del Mar uses a conservative estimate of its final numbers for purposes of the retroactive purse increase, so there is the very real possibility the initial retroactive number announced late in the meet for 2012 will remain the same, but the money carried forward to the 2013 meet could be slightly lower.

All of that will be determined by an upcoming meeting between Del Mar and the Thoroughbred Owners of California.