Sharp declines at Turfway

Turfway Park closed its holiday meet Monday with average daily all-sources wagering down 22.6 percent from 2006 after the Florence, Ky., track lost two of its major account-deposit wagering networks at a 27-day meet that began Nov. 25.

All-sources handle totaled more than $73.7 million for an average of $2,730,099 per card. In 2006, when only 25 days were run at the holiday meet, the average was $3,528,969 per card and total handle was $88.2omillion.

Track president Bob Elliston said the dip was largely attributable to losing AmericaTab and International Racing Group from its roster of off-site accounts.

The AmericaTab sites Winticket.com, Tsnbet.com, and Brisbet.com were purchased in June by Churchill Downs and in November were rolled into Churchill's Twinspires.com account wagering service. Because Turfway has an exclusive account-wagering agreement with TVG, it could not send its signal to the former AmericaTab sites during the holiday meet.

Turfway opted not to offer its signal to International Racing Group, an offshore wagering site based in Curacao, because of legal implications.

Ontrack wagering at the meet was down 1 percent to a total of $3,445,738, a daily average of $127,620. Field size averaged 10.1 per race.