The legal market handle on horse racing in the United States in 2018 was $11.26 billion while experts predict the illegal sports betting market could be anywhere from $80 billion to $150 billion annually. On horse racing alone.
Let’s see if we can put a bit of a dent in Santa Anita’s handle (we’ll talk about that a bit more further down).
Even if it’s a tiny fraction, the gambling industry will not like seeing these two words together anywhere, especially on social media: boycott + gambling.
You Bet. They Die.
Team Santa Anita Park racetrack have killed 29 racehorses since December.
The number was at 27 when the Governor of California stepped in and asked Santa Anita to shut down for the current season. They refused.
Santa Anita killed two more racehorses after that, bringing the total to 29.
Then the California Horse Racing Board asked Santa Anita Park to shut down for the current season. They refused.
Twitter Campaign
Starting tomorrow, Tuesday, June 11, we will be tweeting something along these lines:
Stop the carnage. 29 dead racehorses and counting. Boycott betting at Santa Anita until they are closed.
.
#boycott #betting #santaanitapark
Please either retweet our message @horsefund or tweet the above message from your own account.
If you choose to change the message up please use the same hashtags.
Will It Hurt?
If our Twitter campaign works, will reducing the handle and takeout hurt the track? You bet!
Handle: In sports betting lingo the term handle refers to the total amount of money wagered over a specific period of time.
Takeout: Say a million dollars is wagered on a particular race. According to California law, the racetrack is required to keep 15.43 percent of that, or $154,300, while $845,700 is paid out to winning bettors. Then, of that $154,300, about 45 percent goes to the horse owners who finish in the money (first place gets 60 percent; second place gets 20 percent; third place gets 12 percent; fourth place gets six percent; and fifth place gets two percent). Then around 45 percent goes to the racetrack for operating expenses — what’s known as the takeout.
(Source: https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/where-does-the-money-go-when-you-bet-at-the-racetrack).
Online gambling is where most of the action is, so getting punters to boycott betting on Santa Anita horse races will hurt even more if we can get bettors to please stay away. I mean, there’s plenty else to bet on, right?
Thanks everyone.
* * *
The current race meeting season at Santa Anita closes on June 23.
https://www.santaanita.com/full-calendar/
“You Bet. They Die.” This slogan was coined we believe by Animal Aid UK concerning the Grand National steeplechase in England.
Tuesday's Horse 
Hi Vivian,
this is off topic – did you know that Premarin has a Facebook page? Their ad showed up on my Facebook feed. I couldn’t believe it! I wanted to comment on the post – but they do not have a space to do that. I went out to their page, and there is no where to comment! Only share! I wanted to let you know. I am not sure what we can do about it.
Thanks for your time,
Eileen
LikeLike
No we didn’t. We don’t use FB much any more. Thank you for the heads up. Naturally they are not allowing comments the cowards. 🙊🙉🙈 Sales are down.
LikeLike
I am glad to hear that sales are down! I did mark their page to follow it – I want to keep up with what they are up to. I believe they showed up on my feed because I am a woman of a certain age! :-)
LikeLike
All that social media profiling is pretty creepy. But hooray for women of a certain age! Thank you for staying on top of this. They are closing down in Canada we hear. No more Premarin horses in N America. All in China now. Horrible.
LikeLike
Can you point to where Governor Newsom actually stepped in and asked Santa Anita to shut down for the current season after 27 horses died and they refused. My understanding, and I am knee deep in the activism here against racing in California, is that Governor Newsom merely stepped out to support SB 469 which doesn’t do much for horses except broaden the Board’s authority to conduct meetings quicker to decide whether to move racing locations and dates under the guise of “an emergency” for the “health and safety of riders and horses.”. I have the bill and all the legislative history. Incidentally, the Board refused to exercise their authority long before they requested the track owners to shut the track down. I was at the board meeting. They were the ones that first refused to even entertain the idea.
LikeLike
There are several sources. Keep up the great work. It’s going to take an army. 👍
LikeLike
Thanks. We are actually petitioning Gov Newsom to shut Santa Anita down. He hasn’t asked Santa Anita to shut down personally. That’s the problem. He supports legislation that is merely an enabling bill under the guise of protection.
LikeLike
That’s brilliant you are petitioning the Governor. We had talked about that but it’s 1000x more meaningful that Californians are doing that, or that it is originating with you.👌👏⭐
LikeLike