I wish I would have gone now

[Cangamble]

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/news/4-28-09/session-two-no-holds-barred.html
Canadian version of HANA? I wonder what Dean thought of this guy.
Anyway, they missed the whole point in this discussion.
Churn helps by letting players last longer. If players last longer, their friends and family might just get involved.
But what will bring new blood into the track is the reasonable chance that if you are good enough and lucky enough, you might actually beat the game, and when this happens, others will know about it, and give it a try.
It worked with online Poker, and it works on Betfair.

Reading Jamie Martin's comments from WEG almost made me lose my spaghetti.

[Cangamble]

I'm sure he is a nice guy, but Martin came across as clueless. Bettors know more about the regulations than he does:

"Can you lower takeout?" asked Gross, who referred to the recently-discussed idea of running single races or cards with little or no takeout as a promotional tool. "Do you agree that lowering takeout will increase churn?" Martin responded by saying that it's difficult in the current regulatory environment, and that the move likely wouldn't increase churn anyway.

The guy from the CPMA (the regulators in Canada) corrected Martin:
"There are some misunderstandings here I would like to clear up," Sawchuk interjected from the audience. He stated that on the issue of takeout, there are regulations that tracks must abide by. Sawchuk did state, though, that historically operators have shown little interest in changing those rates. The betting public, he suggested, has benefited from consistent expectations about the rates. "If you want to give more money away, you're welcome to," Sawchuk said to the panel. "But what we do tell you is that if you do accept wagers, you have to divide your money a certain way."

*****************************************
I think the rule in Canada is that if you want to reduce takeout, you just have to send the CPMA a request, and it can be done within 10-14 days.

[DeanT]

Today's session was fantastic. The Betfair head was very good and made a very compelling case about the HANA goal of less takeout. It is rare to see a large operator state so perfectly the state of the takeout discussion with some facts. It is important, imo, to hear people like this with an audience of racetrack executives state the case, black and white. We say it and they might nod, but when he said it, it holds more weight.

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/news/4-29-09/life-after-pari-mutuel-wagering.html

"Empirical evidence around the world undermines that argument (that operators will lose money by lowering takeout) quite dramatically," Davies responded emphatically. "Lower margin is where horse racing has to go in order to compete with all the other sports out there. Even if you are concerned about lower margin, what you should probably throw into the mix are the people who get involved at the margins because of the lower margins.

"We don't believe that low margins are something to be scared of.

[Cangamble]

Today's session was fantastic. The Betfair head was very good and made a very compelling case about the HANA goal of less takeout. It is rare to see a large operator state so perfectly the state of the takeout discussion with some facts. It is important, imo, to hear people like this with an audience of racetrack executives state the case, black and white. We say it and they might nod, but when he said it, it holds more weight.

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/news/4-29-09/life-after-pari-mutuel-wagering.html

"Empirical evidence around the world undermines that argument (that operators will lose money by lowering takeout) quite dramatically," Davies responded emphatically. "Lower margin is where horse racing has to go in order to compete with all the other sports out there. Even if you are concerned about lower margin, what you should probably throw into the mix are the people who get involved at the margins because of the lower margins.

"We don't believe that low margins are something to be scared of.
It sounds like Nick Eaves actually listened. But will he do anything about it?

Oh, and sources said you did a great job.

[Track Collector]

WalMart is not afraid of low margins. Look how successful THEIR business is.

[DeanT]

Busy here trying to catch up, but there is an update about the conference on the blog, and the HANA sessions, if anyone might be interested.

http://blog.horseplayersassociation.org/2009/04/80-20.html

[rrbauer]

WalMart is not afraid of low margins. Look how successful THEIR business is.

Wal Mart doesn't have a lot of competition being subsidized by state governments and slot machines. In the absence of subsidies half of the racetracks would go out of business which is what happens to a lot of Wal Mart's competition.

[46zilzal]

The CPMA (Canadian Parimutuel Agency) rules are very difficult to challenge.

[Cangamble]

The CPMA (Canadian Parimutuel Agency) rules are very difficult to challenge.
They are going to make changes soon. One is to take the cap off maximum takeouts (this will allow Woodbine to make a new wager with an extremely high takeout). I have a gut feeling that the Super 7 is going to be replaced by a horse racing lottery bet, but I could be wrong.
Right now, they just have to notify the CPMA of any takeout change, whether it is an increase or decrease, 15 days out. They want to change it to 5 days out.

http://www4.agr.gc.ca/AAFC-AAC/display-afficher.do?id=1204831926421&lang=eng