'They are going to run us over': how sports betting threatens US racing

The United States is experiencing a new goldrush, a mushrooming market in legalised sports betting. There are fears that horseracing, a sport already reeling from an equine welfare crisis, could be knocked over in the stampede.

For decades gambling on the country’s favourite sports American football, baseball, basketball and ice hockey was – unlike on horseracing – largely illegal, with the notable exception of Nevada.

That did not mean American punters were put off gambling on them – estimates of the amount bet illegally on sports annually in the US range from $80 billion to $150bn.