Fair Grounds betting surges; gross handle highest in seven years

The Fair Grounds 2018-2019 race meet that ended March 24 was the New Orleans track’s best in years.

Gross handle on 763 races during the 81-day meet was $231,683,712, a 17.3-percent increase over the $197,493,142 the track handled on 759 races during its 2017-2018 meeting. That’s the highest gross handle at Fair Grounds since the track handled more than $242 million during the 2011-2012 racing season.

The uptick from 2017-2018 came despite Fair Grounds running 42 fewer grass races (258 to 216) than it did the previous season. The average number of starters per turf race during the 2018-2019 meet was 9.5 compared to just 7.71 in dirt races, and the decline in turf races, strictly related to wet weather, accounted for an overall drop in starters per race from 8.3 during 2017-2018 to 8.21.

Average daily handle came in at $2.86 million, while average handle per race was $303,648 (up 16.7 percent) and $37,296 per betting interest (up 17.7 percent).