Horse racing is the only parimutuel wagering (you are directly wagering against the people around you via pools) in the US, but it is dying-- slowly being repla

Horse racing is the only parimutuel wagering (you are directly wagering against the people around you via pools) in the US, but it is dying-- slowly being replaced by slot machines. There is so much data, almost wholly controlled by 2 companies: Equibase and DRF, and the former is the only one who remotely offers data in a non-pdf manipulable XML format. The entire industry kind of missed the boat in promoting data accessibility and novel handicapping applications (MLB/NBA/NFL are just now getting on board, but horse wagering by nature is very historical performance based venture), it has always been a 'me first' mentality full of proprietary applications and formats. Combine this mentality with states legalizing slots and people preferring to click a button and hear a bell instead of looking at a page full of numbers and using their brains, and you'll see why handle is down ~50% over the last 15 years and tracks who don't get slots through state legislatures end up closing.