Horse Racing Industry: The Key Statistics

Horse racing has been around for centuries, yet it continues to be a global powerhouse and generates billions in revenues whilst captivating a broad and diverse audience. In recent years a number of factors have caused the industry to experience a plethora of rapid changes.

Some driven by technological advancements, others by evolving customer interests and many by an influx of outside investment. From prize money to attendance figures, the numbers behind horse racing demonstrate a fast-moving, evolving and ever popular industry.

The Growth of Horse Racing

Despite the ups and downs of global markets and the changing fortunes of a number of sports, horse racing remains one of the most lucrative sports industries on the planet. According to market experts, the global horse racing industry is expected to grow to a whopping $182.3 billion in the next 5 years.

That would account for almost $60 billion of growth, the majority of which is predicted to come from increased sponsorship deals, subscription services through digital platforms and, as expected, significant growth in horse racing betting.

The latter is the result of a thriving online gambling industry which is now reaping the rewards of striking at the right time and building an online presence just before the explosion of smartphones. With games like blackjack and roulette already proving a hit with younger audiences, horse racing is expected to have a similar rise in popularity amongst younger demographics in the coming years.

Some Key Industry Statistics

Beyond forecasted growth there are a number of other statistics that point towards an industry in the ascent. Here are some of the most interesting that we picked out whilst we were researching this article:

Employment: Healthy industries employ people and that’s certainly the case of horse racing. Here in the United Kingdom, horse racing supports over 85,000 jobs for British workers.

Attendance Figures: The Premier League regularly attracts sell-out crowds, whereas the Super League and County Cricket don’t tend to do the same. The former is a multi-billion pound behemoth and the latter are failing financially.

Fortunately horse racing is more Premier League than county cricket with attendance figures at the main events remaining as sell-outs and those at smaller meets growing year-on-year, despite the total number of annual fixtures falling by 10.

Prize Money: The total prize money on offer to jockeys in the sport remains huge, not just here in the United Kingdom but across the globe. Every year the financial incentives for winning and placing are growing, which points to a healthy industry with no shortage of financial backers.

What the Future Looks Like for Horse Racing

Continued growth doesn’t come down to just doing the same and riding on the coattails of other industries innovations. In order to bring those earlier cited growth predictions to fruition, the industry will have to spend money and adapt.

The biggest adaptation taken will be the move towards digitisation. Whilst men of a certain generation will continue to watch their favourite races in crowded bookmakers or the smoky backrooms of dodgy town centre pubs, others will want to enjoy the sport in a more modern and accessible way.

That means the creation of dedicated platforms and subscription services. It also means independent investment in more modern forms of media such as podcasts and vlogs and larger advertising budgets on social media platforms.

Global expansion will feature highly on the list of objectives for the horse racing industry as well. With a good body of success in Asia and the Middle East so far, further expansion and growth is to be expected. Particularly in locations such as Saudi Arabia which are showing a huge will to become global powerhouses of sport.

In Summary

If horse racing were to remain the same and not make a single change to how it operates, it would still grow in popularity over the next five years. Global trends of online gambling show us that. If it wants to grow at double digit race however, it will need to continue to evolve and innovate.

Another thing that the industry needs to continue doing as well is demonstrating resilience. The sport has many vocal critics and those voices will only continue to get louder. How the industry responds to them will go some way to defining how successful it is in its growth ambitions.