week 1 of Del Park experiment: 11.1% bonuses

[The_Knight_Sky]

The first week of this promotion at Delaware Park has just concluded, I have tallied the exacta payouts for both the on-track and off-track locations for the racing cards from Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. The data for these four days appears in the spreadsheet below.

Spreadsheet and the full post :ThmbUp: (http://theknightskyracing.blogspot.com/2010/09/great-delpark-experiment-11-exacta.html)

Before starting the tally, I was expecting a bonus payout of a shade under 10% due to the rounding down of the payouts to the dime breakage, those odd pennies kept by the racetrack. The spreadsheet reveals that is not the case. As a matter of fact, the reduction of 9 percentage points, from 19% to 10% in the exacta takeout rate has yielded a "bonus" of 11.1% in the exacta pools for those able to make it to Stanton, Delaware to do their wagering.

[Some_One]

What about handle #'s?

[Dave Schwartz]

Knight Sky,

That is a great blog you have there. I'm going to have to link to it.


Regards,
Dave Schwartz

[Horseplayersbet.com]

What about handle #'s?
Handle numbers are really not important for the specific bets. The extra money Delaware bettors win will be churned causing their individual betting to be higher, they will last longer, and over time, believe the game is more beatable than ever before causing them to focus more on horse racing over other forms of gambling.
Expect the exact opposite when California raises takeout.

[andymays]

Handle numbers are really not important for the specific bets. The extra money Delaware bettors win will be churned causing their individual betting to be higher, they will last longer, and over time, believe the game is more beatable than ever before causing them to focus more on horse racing over other forms of gambling.
Expect the exact opposite when California raises takeout.

I wonder if it's taking away from the trifecta pools.

Agree that it's good thing but if they want more people at the track they ought to cut the on track takeout on all bets or give on track bonuses on all bets.

[Horseplayersbet.com]

I wonder if it's taking away from the trifecta pools.

Agree that it's good thing but if they want more people at the track they ought to cut the on track takeout on all bets or give on track bonuses on all bets.
Collectively, the horseplayers will still lose what they were going to lose regardless in this situation. They will eventually lose more because they will go more often, and there is a possibility more players will be created (as players last longer, the probability that they expose friends and family to their hobby increases).

The downside is that some of the winnings will be bet off at other tracks being simulcasted (where the track might make a little less than if the player lost the money betting Delaware only).

[The_Knight_Sky]

David E. Schwartz -

Thank you for the kind words.
The blog is a work in progress and a labor of love.
I shall reciprocate with a link back to HorseStreet.

That's how this internet thing works.
When we are all connected. :ThmbUp:

[The_Knight_Sky]

What about handle #'s?

hi Some_One -

I started (but ceased) to tally the handle in the exacta pools
as I quickly realized that the exacta pool:

a) had a direct correlation with the field size

b) there is no way to differentiate from the charts
how much was bet on-track as opposed to off-track

Even if I worked in DelPark's mutuel's department, having but four days of results in September (with a Labor Day holiday card thrown in) would not be a valid comparison to the previous week.

I do believe it is in DelPark's best interest to start something like this at the very beginning of the meet. Complement the exacta pool with the basic win-place-show pools at a 10% rate and that helps newbies and experienced players alike.

While I tend to view this as a 3 month promotion, I'd recommend racetracks to do it the right way. Make a commitment from the beginning of the meet and gain a loyal segment of the wagering public from around the nation.

Any racino that prices their takeout rates above the state minimums
are intentionally preventing the growth of their horse racing product.

[Dave Schwartz]

Actually, I have a new website under construction. The link will be on that one. I'll send you a link when it is ready.