Beyer

[takeout]

Track Record Improves With Customer Service
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/19/AR2005121901499.html

[snip]
Paying off these lost tickets is a win-win-win proposition for Turfway. It creates goodwill among customers. It puts money into circulation at the track instead of letting it go into the state's coffers. And it gives all of Turfway's customers (including ones who may have previously preferred anonymity) an incentive to sign up for the FasTrack program.
[snip]

I wonder how the state is going to react?

Now, if they could just figure a way to give back the breakage.

[alysheba88]

Good article. Also nice plug for the NYRA cash cards. I always use that when I go. No more fumbling around for tickets.

[toetoe]

This guy's a pretty good writer. My buddy Steve told me he was, but I doubted. He was right.

A related issue: tickets left in the machines. Very bad all around. If I find one, shall I keep it "safe" on the theory that the next schmuck will just steal it? Turn it in to the track? Does the misplacer know he can track that ticket? Does he even care?

[rrpic6]

How did Beyer get to Turfway? I thought he was at Tampa betting with Steve, but not using Beyer figs. My opinion on finding tix in SAM's is keep them safe and try to listen to hear if someone is moaning about losing a ticket in a machine. If not, go cash it in at the end of the day. I'd say i'm about even in this area. If I would have caught some young punk and his girlfriend running to their car a few years back, when they found one of mine for about $280, I'd be even. I did get to eat their whole lunch tho, as they threw down 20 bucks for the waitress for food not brought out yet.

[alysheba88]

This guy's a pretty good writer. My buddy Steve told me he was, but I doubted. He was right.

A related issue: tickets left in the machines. Very bad all around. If I find one, shall I keep it "safe" on the theory that the next schmuck will just steal it? Turn it in to the track? Does the misplacer know he can track that ticket? Does he even care?

You shoudlnt act unethically and use the someone else would have done the same defense. If you saw someone drop $50 at the supermarket would you give it them or steal it? Same deal here

[toetoe]

By no means the same deal, kind sir. If I SAW someone walking away from a loaded voucher, I would call his attention to it. If I saw $50 on the floor, I would pick it up and start investigating. A bill is not traceable, usually, and hence it's not my duty to surrender it to any "authorities" or anyone else. I guess my aversion to giving a voucher to the track is unwarranted. I might insist that it should, if unclaimed, go to charity.

[JustRalph]

Wow! It must be Winter..........we are digging pretty deep to find things to argue about..............


come on guys.............It is friggin Xmas!

Lightenupalittle!

[Indulto]

rrpic6,

As kids, we used to roam construction sites, etc. to find deposit bottles. As my urban dwelling offspring was unable to practice such entrepreneurial exercises, I delegated the task of verifying my losing tickets; occasionally salting the stack as necessary. My wife was forced to agree to this form of indoctrination when, while accompanying me to the track, the kid actually “stooped” a foot-sticking, winning ticket.

[rrpic6]

Finding a winning ticket on the ground is quite different, at the least morally, than going to a SAM Machine and taking someone's voucher. One was disposed of with no intent of retrieving, while the other was left unintentionally in a machine, due to trying to run to a nearby TV to watch a just wagered upon race. That punk had a great ROI that day plus a story to be retold over and over and over again.

[toetoe]

Sorry to nitpick, rr, but we must assume that the floorbound voucher was UNintentionally dropped, making it the equivalent of the in-machina ducat. In both cases, clerks can put a lock on the vouchers, although some clerks are so stupid/lazy/dense that it may not happen. The vast majority will help eagerly; I'm just being cautiously pessimistic.

[alysheba88]

By no means the same deal, kind sir. If I SAW someone walking away from a loaded voucher, I would call his attention to it. If I saw $50 on the floor, I would pick it up and start investigating. A bill is not traceable, usually, and hence it's not my duty to surrender it to any "authorities" or anyone else. I guess my aversion to giving a voucher to the track is unwarranted. I might insist that it should, if unclaimed, go to charity.

I am not saying you are obligated to return a voucher to the track when you dont know the owner.

[rrpic6]

Sorry to nitpick, rr, but we must assume that the floorbound voucher was UNintentionally dropped, making it the equivalent of the in-machina ducat. In both cases, clerks can put a lock on the vouchers, although some clerks are so stupid/lazy/dense that it may not happen. The vast majority will help eagerly; I'm just being cautiously pessimistic.

I was talking of a ticket (maybe $1.00 TBX 2-6-7-8) For Turf Paradise that is a winner, but the person threw it away because he thought he punched that ticket for Turfway. That ticket is on the floor, someone picks it up and checks the results and , voila, a winner. Not talking about a betting voucher on the floor, just still in the SAM.

[toetoe]

Right, right. I just threw that into the mix as it occurred to me.

[rrpic6]

I consider a voucher on the floor the same as one in the SAM, it was forgotten, not disposed of. So the moral question is returning the voucher to the Manager or holding on to it, or cashing it out.

[toetoe]

Sorry, rr. Post 13 was for Alysheba.

I see your distinction. And we all do that, I'm sure. I bet a three-race parlay once, as I loved the card at Hollywood Park. All three horses stank but, on my next trip to the simulcast site, I inserted the voucher, anyway. Imagine my surprise when it registered $80 or so. I had marked "North Track" on the parlay slip, and I was a winner at Bay Meadows. See, I couldn't tell this on myself anywhere else. Too embarrassing. Worse than my Charismatic story, even.

[Indulto]

rrpic6,

I’m sure your “punk” was a legitimate neer-do-well, but how does one determine intent from a ticket on the ground. Similar to TT’s self-inflicted surprise, have you ever had a teller mispunch your ticket and it still won? What did you do? What recourse is there when you don’t catch the error and it loses?

If someone finds a rewards-associated ticket and tries to cash it, what happens then? Should the track verify identity even if it’s not an IRS signer? What if the ticket had been purchased for a friend, or exchanged, or sold prior to the running of the final leg of a multi-race exotic?

Suppose tracks did away with the concept of worthless tickets altogether by offering “Anonymous” or “Second Chance” rebates to its on-track customers? Rebates on losing wagers could be applied toward the purchase of wagers on subsequent events from the same track where the qualifying wager was placed; with exchange, but not refund privileges.

Imagine how clean wagering areas would be if there were no such thing as a worthless ticket! How many times have you seen someone tear up their tickets only to then hear the infamous “Ladies and gentlemen, please hold all pari-mutuel tickets” or have been aware of the “Pack Rats” among us who have kept their tickets and programs in anticipation of a subsequent IRS signing event, and then never threw them away.

Obviously, this type of rebate has the additional benefit of providing a public service preventing further infliction of psychological damage to horseplayers.
Finally, wouldn’t fans be more likely to show up again if the tickets they purchased before leaving had some value toward the funding of another dip in the mutual pools subject to yet another round of takeout.

Before the ridicule descends, self-service machine(s) could be reserved for the purpose of scanning and accumulating losing tickets and generating non-cashable, non-refundable vouchers whose value could be reduced by some fee if a minimum voucher value was not submitted in a single batch. (In event of malfunction, an attendant could be alerted to retrieve the accumulated batch.) The machine would reject any live or winning tickets.

[rrpic6]

Its hard to think of a better idea than Turfway's. I always keep my tickets. If I'm not sure about the results I can always recheck. Only have had 1 or 2 tellers make a mistake in my favor. I will only go to "The Humans" to make bets when I dont' have time to stuff cash in a SAM or am out of vouchers. I know which tellers are the best, so rarely do I get a bad punch. A few years back in Vegas, I was responsible for losing a 15K Pic 6 at Bay Meadows when I accidentally used 1-2-6 in the last leg instead of 1-2-7, naturally the 7 won at even money with R Baze on it.:bang: Maybe Tonto or Steve could have gotten the money anyways:lol:

[chrisg]

Hats off to Turway

:ThmbUp: