BetMakers, the fixed-odds betting partner of Monmouth Park in New Jersey, launched a mobile betting app on Thursday for making fixed-odds wagers on horseracing tracks in the U.S., limited to New Jersey residents, the company said. The launch has been long anticipated from BetMakers, which has been running a fixed-odds retail shop at Monmouth Park for the past year. The app, called MonmouthBets, will allow mobile customers to place fixed-odds bets year-round on races from Monmouth and a handful of other tracks who have agreed to provide their signals to the company this year, including Tampa Bay Downs in Florida, Canterbury Park in Minnesota, Delaware Park, and Emerald Downs in Washington, BetMakers said. Fixed-odds wagering allows players to lock in a price on a horse at the time the bet is placed, in contrast to the pari-mutuel system, where prices are set by the final distribution of bets at the time the race goes off. The format is the dominant form of wagering on horseracing in England and Ireland, and it was introduced a decade ago to Australia, alongside the country’s existing pari-mutuel market. Monmouth and BetMakers officials have described the experience last year of offering fixed-odds in promising terms, though they have acknowledged that turnover on the format was limited due to the lack of a mobile option. Betting was also limited to Monmouth Park’s races. “With last year’s retail offering setting the foundation, we are excited and honored to bring fixed-odds betting to horseplayers through our MonmouthBets digital platforms,” said Jake Henson, the CEO of BetMakers, which is based in Australia. “Fixed-odds betting will help to form a healthy betting ecosystem for horse racing in New Jersey and beyond, with the transformative potential to provide a massive benefit to the entire racing industry.” Proponents of fixed-odds betting include many horseplayers who say that they prefer having both a fixed-odds option and a pari-mutuel option in order to get the best price on a horse. It is also supported by companies who are eager to test the U.S. market to see if the practice can catch on as it has in other countries, alongside the fixed-odds options that have sprung up on sports betting across the U.S. over the past five years. New Jersey and Colorado are so far the only states to legalize fixed-odds betting on horse racing. Legislation was introduced in New York early this year to legalize the practice on horseracing, but it is unclear if the bill has enough support to pass. Despite the limited reach of the new MonmouthBets app, Dennis Drazin, the head of the company that operates Monmouth Park, said that the mobile platform has the potential to reach the state’s vast number of sports-betting customers by being presented in the same format. “We believe it will attract new customers, drive growth, and increase handle significantly,” Drazin said. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.