Fixed Odds Wagering Legalized in West Virginia

[Wandering Eyes]

Joining New Jersey and Colorado, West Virginia has become the third state to legalize fixed odds wagering on horse racing. The legislation was fully completed Saturday and the state's racetracks, sports book and gambling apps can begin accepting the bets whenever they are ready to go.

The Legislature passed the bill by a 55-43 count.

“I am the general counsel and lobbyist for the Charles Town HBPA, and so that was the impetus for me trying to get this started,” said lobbyist Philip Reale. “Fixed odds has been popular in Australia and in Europe for a long time. I think it will help make a new market for horse racing, and bring in some bettors who might not otherwise be interested in horse racing. It's just an easier way to do things, in my opinion.”

Charles Town management also pushed for fixed odds and its representative in the capital, Sam Barrett, also helped put the issue across the finish line.

Fixed odds wagering debuted at Monmouth Park in 2022, but has had trouble gaining any momentum there. There are several problems, most notably a refusal from the sport's major tracks to offer their product to Monmouth for fixed odds. In New Jersey, fixed odds bets can only be made at the track or on a special app. Fixed odds bets are not being accepted by any of the major casino companies or on-line sports books like FanDuel and DraftKings. You can bet on horse racing on FanDuel, but they take only pari-mutuel bets.

Reale is hopeful that fixed odds will eventually prove to be attractive to younger bettors who, right now, are playing primarily the four major sports and college games.

“I think the hurdle now is to get it to take off and developing that critical mass of states that will offer it, so that the sports books apps, the DraftKings, FanDuels, of the world see enough interest in it to devote the resources needed to putting it together on their platforms,” he said.

Will sports bettors start paying attention to horse racing? Reale hopes so.

“I always tell a story about the college frat boys sitting on their couch on a Saturday afternoon betting on their apps,” Reale said. “They've got their phones out. They'll play a couple of football games and then they'll see a horse that's going to pay 15-1 and they'll sees what that does to their odds on their parlay. They'll bet the horse to try to increase their pay out. That will be the real boon for sports books…odds boost  from horses on their standard parlays and people are going to see the potential of big money. But we all know picking a winner of a horse race is not terribly easy. There will become a market for this eventually. How long this takes, I don't know? Hopefully, we can start this and it will snowball and we can get other states to bring it on line.”

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