Up in the hot seat of Martin Lycka’s Safe Bet Show this month is Dallas Baker, Head of International Operations at BetMakers, who laid out the case for rolling out fixed-odds racing betting in the US.
Baker explained some of the benefits that the industry has seen in his native Australia from the fixed-odds betting legalization, but this has yet to take off in the US.
Currently, only New Jersey offers legal fixed-odds betting on horse racing, but Baker noted that there is ample opportunity for the sportsbook industry if this was to expand.
“When you’re talking about the third or fourth biggest sport, which probably racing should evolve to in the US, that’s the one big slot that still needs to be added into the mix. I think once you see that, that’s the evolution of the whole market. But I think racing anywhere in the world will normally sit in the top three or four sports just by the nature of it.”
BetMakers operates the Monmouth Bets brand in New Jersey, which focuses on fixed-odds horse race betting and is overseen by Baker as part of his international remit.
He has also recently helped the firm to roll out horse racing betting to Jamaica via a deal with Caymanaas Park in December 2022.
There was also the rollout of 130 betting outlets and an online fixed odds offering on the Carribean island earlier this year as BetMakers continues to push for racing expansion.
But Baker has his eyes set on growth in the US, owing to the cultural ties America has to the racing industry. In his view, the model implemented in Jamaica can be replicated across the US.
“That’s what we’re trying to bring into the US to get racing on the sports books,” he said. “To get fixed odds betting on as many different sports books and take it to the modern sports wagering punter and expose racing to the millions of people who have got sports betting accounts in the US.
“Hopefully then we can build on that beautiful relationship that co-exists that sports people bet on racing and racing people bet on sports. That helps sports betting and that helps grow racing. With the right modeling, that can be a great benefit to a racing industry in the US that does need a few different revenue sources.”
Elsewhere in their conversation, Lycka and Baker touched on Australia’s performance in The Ashes, where they retained the prestigious cricket crown against England in a series draw, and the evolution of the sports betting industry in the last 30 years.
Particularly, Baker is impressed with the work that operators now do to keep players safe whilst betting, something that was not the norm in a time gone by.
He explained: “20-30 years ago, a good customer was somebody who lost regardless of whether they were losing their house. I think now and especially the work that through Entain getting in front of it and bookmakers leading the charge is fantastic.
“Going back to 20-30 years ago, could you imagine actually having a conversation where you say that a wagering organization is leading the charge on problem gambling? It’s like saying the sky is the sky is not blue. It’s just phenomenal to think that as an industry we have been able to lead the charge on that.”
