A new horse-racing handicapping platform, EquinEdge, is a marketing tool for tracks, OTBs, and racinos that can offer it to customers free of charge.
By revolutionizing handicapping and driving the industry into the digital age, EquinEdge’s platform is growing in popularity in the betting community. Referred to as “the Daily Racing Form of the 21st century,” EqinEdge is artificial intelligence-based with multiple machine-learning algorithms accessible via a web app by smartphone, computer, iPad, or tablet.
EquinEdge’s expansion to tracks and OTBs is just in time for the summer racing season, headlined by Del Mar in San Diego and Saratoga in New York. Traditionally the best-attended meets in the country, large crowds are expected to return this summer as the U.S. continues a strong rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic
“It’s a value booster to OTB operators, tracks, and racinos,” said EquinEdge COO, Michael Maiorana. “We would like to have the product available at tracks and OTBs at no fee to the operator.”
EquinEdge is also provided free of charge for bettors at live racing venues. When offsite and betting via advance deposit (ADW), players must purchase a pass or membership to access EquinEdge. The platform works the same way for an OTB, in which the operator selects a single track that players in their establishment can access for free at any time.
“We want to let operators know about the value that EquinEdge offers, get them to experience the platform, and provide incredible value to their players.” Maiorana said. “It also makes a great player’s club benefit for racinos – giving players a reason to visit your track and have a value-added experience.”
EquinEdge imagines a world where everyone who attends live racing or visits an OTB has access to the best handicapping tools on the planet, using a medium that is current, relevant, and differentiating.
The handicapping platform can be used by both novice and experienced horse players. It’s gotten a lot of national attention since January when company CEO Scotty McKeever won the Pegasus World Cup Betting Challenge. Users frequently post on social media to celebrate their winning Pick 5, Pick 6, and other tickets they cash with the help of EquinEdge.
“Our social feeds are littered with good-news stories,” Maiorana said. “Once you start playing with this tool, it’s impossible to play without it.”
Professional handicappers Brady Klotz and Justin Sampson host the EquinEdge Action Hour posted on YouTube and other social-media feeds on Thursday night, which provides weekly analysis of horse racing. The show uses the tool to handicap the weekend’s upcoming races.
Sampson said he got interested in horse racing about six years ago and regularly used the Daily Racing Form until EquinEdge went live. “It changed the game for me as a handicapper. Its algorithms help me understand class and genetic strength of a horse and projected win percentages. It changed how I look at horse racing and advanced the way I look at a race in a very simple way. EquinEdge allows me to immediately say, ‘This horse has a shot … and that horse doesn’t have a shot.’”
The 30-year-old Klotz started handicapping horses three to four years ago and moved to the EquinEdge platform at the beginning of 2021. “It provides a great tool for the next generation of players and cuts down dramatically on the amount of time it takes to handicap a race or track,” he said. “I think it attracts the younger crowd, the future of the business.”
“Let’s be honest,” Klotz explained. “Our game is stuck in the 1980s. It feels like it hasn’t changed. People are stubborn in this industry and say this is the way things have always been done and the way we’re always going to do them. EquinEdge is disrupting that line of thought, and it’s really cool to see. There are a lot of services out there, but this is a tool and not a tout. It enables handicappers to make themselves better, be more efficient, and find things they were missing.”
Sampson credits a $2 Pick Four that paid more than $6,000 and exactas that paid just shy of 600-to-1 to his use of the EquinEdge tool.
“People ask me all the time, ‘How do you see that?’ But I never would have seen these things on my own,” Sampson said. “It’s all EquinEdge. When I first started playing (the horses), I didn’t win, but now it’s the complete opposite.”
Klotz, who finished second in the Pegasus contest, said the tool “isn’t one size fits all. It’s customizable to how you want to use it. That’s what makes it cool — it’s so versatile. You’re just looking for an edge.”
Klotz said the most he’s won in one day is $117,000.
The platform takes about an hour to learn and EquinEdge offers the first week free with the use of its promo code WEEKFREE. It can be used for every track in North America.
A single-day pass for one race track is $5.95. Single-day for all race tracks is $9.95. A single-weekend Friday through Sunday pass is $24.95. All-access memberships range from $49.95 for a month of weekends to a yearlong unlimited pass for $699.95 and include a one-hour session with Pegasus World Cup Handicapping Challenge Champion and EquineEdge CEO Scotty McKeever.
For more information, email EquinEdge COO Michael Maiorana at mike@equinedge.com, call 954-648-3519, or visit equinedge.com.
