THE state of the State

[sonnyp]

todays las vegas sun - review journal :

Why far fewer bettors pony up on the horses

Overhead costs, cultural shift conspire to keep next generation away from races


By Liz Benston (http://www.lasvegassun.com/staff/liz-benston/)


Horse Bettor: John Astarita (http://www.lasvegassun.com/photos/galleries/2011/may/06/horse_bettor_johnny_avello/)




It’s midmorning and John Astarita, sitting in his usual cubicle in the Wynn Las Vegas (http://www.lasvegassun.com/casinos/wynn-las-vegas/) race and sports book, is several pages deep in the Daily Racing Form, the newsprint bible for horse bettors. Atop that is a stack of computer printouts developed by University of Chicago-trained mathematicians, priced at $30 a pop and tracking the careers of some of the horses racing today.

It’s days before the Kentucky Derby, the Super Bowl of horse racing, yet the Wynn sports book has plenty of vacant seats. This high season for horse betting attracts a mostly older crowd to watch the dozens of races that will dominate TV screens in Las Vegas sports books through Saturday, Derby day.



More at this link... (http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/may/06/why-far-fewer-bettors-pony-horses/)

[Charli125]

One one hand he talks about how high takeout is killing the sport. Yep, agreed.

On the other he plays Calder and Philadelphia Park. Ouch, talk about high takeout.

On one hand he talks about field size and how he wants bigger fields; we would all agree with that.

On the other he talks about how rebates are destroying the game. Why don't the casino's give rebates?(I bet they do if you're a big enough player) Takeout on slots is less than 5% and they have the same brick and mortar costs if not more than the race book.

I think he's a good example of how uneducated we are collectively as horseplayers. I agree with his conclusion of lower takeout and bigger fields, but blaming it on rebates and whales just doesn't make sense.

[Dave Schwartz]

Why don't the casino's give rebates?(I bet they do if you're a big enough player)

It is against Nevada State Gaming Law.

[sonnyp]

the government is a joke. the casinos were giving rebates. handle in vegas was sky high. they legislate away rebates. they put beaver and his brother in jail to scare everybody away. now they want to blame a generation gap cause nobody is betting horses in vegas.

joke