Despite pandemic, global wagering at Assiniboia Downs is five times higher than usual in 2020

A few months ago, Assiniboia Downs CEO Darren Dunn was not sure if the local horse racing industry could survive the COVID-19 pandemic. He and his staff, in conjunction with the Manitoba government, set out to devise a plan to somehow stay afloat and it involved selling the local racing signal around the world in hopes of increasing online wagering. There would be no fans at the Downs in 2020 and they had to move their racing nights from weekends to Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays but at least there was an opportunity to bring in revenue from global wagering. They opened racing on May 25 and it didn’t take long to realize the plan was a stunning success. “What we drew up on paper we were able to execute in spades,” Dunn said Thursday, a day after the 18th racing day of the season at the Downs.