About take out

[Actor]

If the take out is 15% then supposedly the state gets 5%, the track gets 5% and the remaining 5% goes to purses.

Does the state mandate that their share is 5% of handle or do they simply get 1/3 of whatever take out the track gets?

[Steve 'StatMan']

The distributions vary by state, and the contracts that the tracks have with their horsemen.

For example, last I knew, on the live races in IL, of the Straight Pool 17% take, 8% goes to track, 8% goes to horsemen, and 1% goes to the state of IL. The exotics are different. If the bet is made at an IL OTB, it is different (added takeouts, including for the municiaplity), ITB (non-runnning race track - less extra takout than the OTB) Bets on out of state races perhaps have a different structure (depending on the fee of the imported track)

[therussmeister]

I believe the state's share and purses are always a percentage of handle rather then percentage of track's take. That is why reducing takeout can be difficult for tracks to do, because the reduction comes exclusively from the track's share of takeout unless they can get the horsemen and state to renegotiate.