Belmont Number's Down

[IRISHLADSTABLE]

Here is a look at some stats from the recent Belmont meet .

http://www.drf.com/news/article/51168.html

Jimmy / ILS

[Jaguar]

Jimmy, those numbers will be very different once the slots are up and running.

All The Best,

Jaguar

[Valuist]

If NY gets slots, look for unreal purses. $75000 for Mdns $100,000 overnight allowances would not be unrealistic in the next couple years. And look for a mass exodus of trainers out of SoCal.

[shanta]

THANX FOR POSTING THAT ABOUT THE BEL MEET JIMMY. :)

[Suff]

Those numbers have me doing circles.

in the end the article states.. Total wagering for the 38 day meet was 403 million. Up from 366 Million from last year.

Its using an ON-track decline to use a BOLD HEADLINE.

"Belmont business down"....

should'nt it read

"Belmont Market is a Moving target"?

The people are playing from home. Less people at the track will drive down on-track. If they sign up with a Betting Hub in Oregon..the business has'nt gone.. its moved.

[andicap]

Suff,
here are the relevant parts of the story

------
Daily average total handle, including incoming simulcasting, was down 4.5 percent, from last year's $11,106,494 to $10,606,675. Daily average attendance dropped 3.1 percent, from 6,122 during the 33-day meet in 2002 to 5,930 this year.

Total wagering on New York Racing Association races dropped 5 percent, from $10,606,675 to $10,149,324. Ontrack wagering fell 10.6 percent, from $1,711,271 to $1,530,721. Ontrack wagering on NYRA races was down 20 percent, from $1,291,008 to $1,073,371.

Said NYRA's Bill Nader,
"Even considering those factors, it was simply not a good meet from a business perspective."
---------
I don't know what the last two grafs about total wagering from all sources meant -- maybe there were more dates. Did they exclude in-home Internet betting? I guess that's the question to ask. I'd be curiouis to know.


:confused:

[Figman]

Here is a different look at the Belmont Fall numbers. These numbers include all comingled handle that is handle actually showing up on the NYRA toteboard as reported in the Equibase Charts on a daily basis. Some places like Canada, parts of the Carribean and South America and others outside of the United States wager on the NYRA races and compensate NYRA with a contractual fee based on handle or a flat per diem rate. All source handle would be the sum of comingled handle and the handle from others that form their own pari-mutuel pools but pay NYRA a contractual fee.

Belmont Park Fall Meet Comparison Figures - (Source figures from Equibase daily charts)
2003 Sep.5th-Oct.26th (38 dates) with 355 pari-mutuel races.
2003 all Belmont Park comingled handle - $385,625,055

2002 Sep.6th-Oct.20th (33 dates) with 311 pari-mutuel races
2002 all Belmont Park comingled handle - $352,643,569

"Per Race" Handle Comparisons on the Fall 2003 & 2002 Belmont Park Live Races
2003
OnTrack- $114,896 (down 16.13%)
2002
OnTrack- $136,988
**********************
2003
InState- $298,421 (down 8.54%)
2002
InState- $326,272
**********************
2003
OutOfState- $692,951 (up 3.33%)
2002
OutOfState- $670,642
*************************
2003
Total- $1,086,268 (down 4.20%)
2002
Total- $1,133,902

[VetScratch]

Unfortunately for horsemen at BEL and elsewhere, gains in off-track wagering are not keeping pace with reductions in on-track wagering. The percentage of each wagering dollar that is allocated to the horse industry is usually much less from off-track sources than on-track sources.

Unless it has changed recently, when you bet NYRA at most simulcast sites outside of NY, only about 2% is allocated to the horse industry because NYRA sells simulcasting for about 4%.

Furthermore, the slot-tax subsidy for racing in many states is under attack by powerful lobbying interests that want to divert these funds to other causes... often to the charities and welfare programs that are overwhelmed by the epidemic of bankruptcies caused by slots. Few politicians are articulate enough to explain to constituents that subsidizing agribusiness is a better long-term investment than welfare handouts that will probably go right back into the slots.

[cato]

Vet Scratch:

Do you have any basis for this statement:
"the epidemic of bankruptcies caused by slots."??

Thanks, Cato

[VetScratch]

Cato,

It's been a few years since I read printed accounts of the consequences of slot casinos near Memphis and Chicago, but I will search the web for links to recent news stories/studies.

As I distinctly recall, there was a big increase in foreclosures and bankruptcies (and also robberies at banks and convenient stores) in the wake of legalized slots.

Can you think of a more assured way to lose your shirt than slots?

By observation, I thinks anyone who has walked through a slot casino can see that those who can least afford to gamble are likely to become addicted slot players. It's pathetic to watch the courtesy buses ferry fixed-income senior citizens back and forth from their low-income (i.e., welfare-subsidized) housing projects after Social Security checks arrive each month.

[VetScratch]

Cato,

I got so many search hits that it seems silly to bother posting any news links about the consequences of slot casinos... so I narrowed my search to include only the most respected bylines in American journalism. :)

See http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=91952

[ceejay]

Originally posted by VetScratch
Unfortunately for horsemen at BEL and elsewhere, gains in off-track wagering are not keeping pace with reductions in on-track wagering. The percentage of each wagering dollar that is allocated to the horse industry is usually much less from off-track sources than on-track sources.

Unless it has changed recently, when you bet NYRA at most simulcast sites outside of NY, only about 2% is allocated to the horse industry because NYRA sells simulcasting for about 4%.

http://opinions.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=19004

This is on-point to your comments.

[VetScratch]

Ceejay,

Something is wrong when both average handle and average purse per race are significantly higher in Turkey than in the United States.

As opposed to slots, which make suckers out of U.S. citizens, I would rather see U.S. racing subsidized by a surtax on the tuitions paid by approximately one-million foreign students who are enrolled at American schools (prep and college).

The Turks charged us $16-billion to let U.S. troops enter Iraq, so they ought to be able to "pony up" $1,000 per year for each student being educated in the U.S.

A surtax of $1,000 per foreign student would raise enough money to DOUBLE the average purse for the 55,000 races run in the U.S. each year. Since the national average for college tuition has risen above $15,000/year, the surtax rate would be less than 7% (and cost all foreign nations 1/16th what we paid in toll fees to walk through Turkey).

As a gesture of good will, we might even exempt Turkish students from this tax (i.e., in essence, thanking them for the inspiration)! :)