Racing vs sports betting performance

[blackswan]

Hi everyone,

I've been going through my betting performance data (which is long overdue!) and have found that my performance would be substantially better if I dropped horse racing entirely.

Since April 2023 my net return is 5.1%, but when I break that down I get:
SPORTS: 12.9%
RACING: -3.3%

Looking at other data periods it's the familiar case of my sports betting outperforming my race betting by a country mile.

I've had a rough start to 2024, with a net return of -4.1%, but when I break that down I get:
SPORTS: 5.3%
RACING: -20.7%

Based on this I will officially throw the towel in on race wagering.

Is it a similar story for everyone else? Or do any of you outperform for racing compared to sports?

[pominoz]

I'm sure you're not alone. I'm not into racing myself, but the Australian wagering industry news is full of talk about the ramping up of taxation, particularly on racing. This has forced bookmakers to increase their margins.

Racing margins have always been much higher than sports margins, so your comparative results between sports and racing make a lot of sense. If you look at the latest bookmaker margins survey on asb (https://www.aussportsbetting.com/202...arkets-survey/), the margins are well over 25% for fixed odds race win markets, compared to 5%-6% for popular sports markets.

[blackswan]

Thanks pominoz. Yeah, you make a great point with margins.

I can back myself to overcome a 5% margin, but I feel justified in not attempting to beat bookmakers at double-digit margins. I just wish I had made the realisation sooner!