Galway Bay fm newsroom – It was a mixed week for this year’s Galway Races – with strong betting figures but a decline in those attending the racecourse at Ballybrit.
Almost 139 thousand people passed through the stiles during the seven day event, and left over 14 and a half million euro with the Tote and the bookies.
This years Galway Races Summer Festival drew just under 139 thousand revellers from across the country – that’s a five percent drop on the figure of almost 132 thousand for last year.
Despite the dip, it was a particularly strong year for the Tote, which was up by one million euro – from 5.7 million in 2015, to 6.7 over the past seven days.
However, it was a tougher year for the bookies, who experienced a slight drop of around one hundred thousand euro when compared to last year’s figure of almost 8 million.
Tuesday was the iconic festival’s most challenging day, with the 15 thousand strong crowd down 3 thousand from last year – while betting on the day was down by almost 400 thousand.
However, Friday saw a major reversal in fortunes, with the crowds surging from 21 and a half thousand to 27 thousand people – while the Tote almost doubled from 668 thousand euro in 2015 to a staggering 1.3 million euro.
Despite a drop in attendance and overall betting figures, Ladies Day on Thursday remained the biggest day at this years races – with a crowd of almost 33 thousand leaving some 3 million euro with the Tote and the bookies.