Meadowlands: Big handle at The Big M in March

As usual, college basketball had a marvelous month of March, but so too did The Meadowlands, where wagering was at an extremely high level, so much so in fact, that average betting per race card exceeded $3 million for the first time during March in recent history.

A total of $24,335,974 was pushed through the windows on the eight programs, good for a nightly average of $3,041,996. The average per race was $234,000.

Business was up over a year ago when the numbers were $23,162,002, $2,895,250 and $222,711, respectively.

"I am happy to report that business was very solid in March," said Big M Chief Operating Officer and General Manager Jason Settlemoir. "Which is very encouraging considering how popular the NCAA Tournament has become. Even though the NCAA games played deep into the night on Fridays and Saturdays, The Meadowlands showed solid handle increases across the board. The average March handle of over $3 million a night continues our successful path since Gov. (Phil) Murphy and the N.J. State Legislature passed the horse racing bill in 2018."

The numbers back that up.

Here are the average per-card handle figures for the month of March since 2017:

* 2017: $2,275,885
* 2018: $2,586,492
* 2019: $2,929,864
* 2020: $2,674,409
* 2021: $2,895,250
* 2022: $3,041,996

-edited release (Meadowlands)