Horse players have access to a new handicapping platform that will help even novices formulate their wagers in minutes and cash large winning tickets at the window.
EquinEdge’s platform received national attention when it was used in January by company CEO Scotty McKeever in winning the Pegasus World Cup Betting Challenge. McKeever also had a second entry that earned sixth place. He won nearly $200,000 and a paid entry to the National Handicapping Championship in Las Vegas later this year. He said he used to spend eight to 10 hours a day pouring over statistics and past performances in the Daily Racing Form to build his bets. Now, he can them in a few minutes.
It takes about an hour to get up to speed on the platform and EquinEdge offers the first day free with the use of its promo code DAYFREE. It uses objective information to make subjective decisions by applying handicapping data to prepare a bet.
“It’s like having a caddy on the golf course,” said McKeever, who hosts a livestream on the EquinEdge YouTube Channel every Saturday. “We identify specific opportunities for each race based on the most accurate algorithms available, but the final decisions are up to you.”
McKeever said the platform will be a boon to horse race wagering, because players will be entertained while learning. The same concept helped bolster poker, he said, when people saw professionals play it on television. There’s also a community of people who get together on the platform and play.
“A burgeoning interest in pari-mutuel wagering will grow the interest in horse racing while new players learn what I learned. It doesn’t have to be tedious and time-consuming to handicap races, build bets within a budget, and have a lot of fun while enjoying the opportunity to win,” McKeever said.
Company officials said their platform is revolutionizing handicapping and driving the industry into the digital age. For example, there’s no need to download forms or print anything out. It’s a web app accessible by smartphone, computer, iPad or tablet.
Company COO Michael Maiorana said they consider themselves “the Racing Form of the 21st century. This is what people should be using as a standard to handicap. Our data shows people win more. It’s AI- (artificial intelligence-) based. We use multiple machine-learning algorithms. They look at all of the data available that a handicapper would have to look through themselves and make a decision. We have a ticket generator that if you want to do a trifecta and put in your budget, it gives you the most mathematically probable winner for your wager amount.”
The platform has been available for about 18 months and can be used for every track in North America. It has more than 3,000 users and is growing exponentially on a monthly basis.
“Every day, people are winning and sharing tickets,” Maiorana said. “Just last week, we had a customer hit for over $22,000 on a $22 ticket. It’s like we opened the black box to the public when we made the systems used by the biggest handicappers on the planet and exposed them for everyone to use.”
The platform isn’t a tout service. It doesn’t even tell people what to do, Maiorana said. It’s like having multiple professional handicappers giving you advice or recommendations through the application of different algorithms.
“EquinEdge places easy-to-understand metrics at your fingertips,” Maiorana said. “The speed at which you can handicap is unparalleled. You can go from race to race with one click.”
The data shows that not only are players winning more, they’re playing more tracks and betting more, Maiorana said. “This is what horse racing needs,” Maiorana said.
A daily pass costs $9.99. It’s $25 for a Friday through Sunday pass. A monthly weekend subscription costs $50. The unlimited tier is $80 a month. Other plans will be added for a single track and an entire meet.
“A lot of our users are people who have been handicapping for years,” Maiorana said. “We get a lot of feedback that they’ve never been as successful as they are now, with the tools we’ve made available. EquinEdge is like playing a new game — the better you get at it, the more you win. Younger generations are using it, having fun and being able to compete in the sport.”
EquinEdge wants to feature its product as a benefit to players at race books, racinos and live meets where customers can access it for free.
