Lousiana Downs Bucks the Trend

Maybe it is not the economy after all.

Mountaineer Park in Chester WV ushered in the 21st century business model in 1999. At that time their handle was putrid, but they changed. They decided that they would offer their signal to anyone who wants it, for a good price (not the THG 1/3 model, but a low price to encourage people to offer it and to rebate to customers if they wish). The pre-signal distribution handle was $19 million for the entire meet. In 2003 with full coverage, this jumped to $300 million. They grew Mountaineer from a backwoods place that no one plays, to a solid destination for hungry price sensitive bettors.

Following that lead is Louisiana Downs. This meet, while most others showed massive decreases in handles, their handle jumped. They worked with their partners like Premier Turf Club and Youbet.com to push the product. It seems to have worked well.

Now in the third year of a marketing partnership, Youbet.com posted increases on Louisiana Downs racing once again. The online provider doubled their handle on Louisiana Downs from 2005 to 2007, and grew by another 10% in 2008. Louisiana Downs also reached an agreement with TVG network in late July, and the racing network's average handle jumped by 105% each day.