what's the equation?
 

Money is transferred from losers to winners at the track.

Warren Buffett is credited with an equation that goes like this.....

The stock market is a device that is utilized to transfer money from the impatient to the patient.

So....

The track is a device to transfer money from the (.........) to the (.......)

Fill in the equation.

The track is a device to transfer money from the impulsive to the disciplined.

The track (tote board) is a device to transfer money from
the Entire Betting population to the 5% of Winning bettors & Connections that Win Purses

Or in Summary:

From the pockets of many to the pockets of few

Gamblers to the employees of the track, sellers of information, state coffers, and some horsemen/riders and their employees.

The exceptions are few, far between, and probably working harder than it's worth given if they have the talent and work ethic to beat the horses they could probably be making more doing something else.

fun topic , excuse if I rant a bit;

Like anything else, you need a great team, and if you reach that position, you have to have a 'moat' around it.

Moat's = You got 5 or 6 forces+
1.INSIDERS rivalry = what makes your business better than your rivals? Differentiation? Branding? Cost-Efficiency?
2.Bargaining Power of buyers = ability to charge a premium? Lock-in customers?
3.Bargaining Power of Suppliers = Large Market Penetration/share?
4.Threat of New Entrants? = Barriers to entry? Dependency on user base
5.Substitutes Copycats? = Patents brand loyalty?
6.(66) Innovation/Game-Changers? = Proactive technological and legislative vigilance?

Sorry, taking the opportunity to be somewhat silly on the Buffet Theme...

but, to win you are technically holding a certain market position.

Yes, if some player had some special knowledge of the game, 'betting' is usually one of the least efficient ways of applying that knowledge. Training, Owning, Breeding, operations would be fine without that knowledge, but some bonus profit could be made, and some sportsman appreciate a deeper understanding.

Of course with struggling operations, should they have the rest of the off-track business well enough positioned, some on-track success could be quite a boost.

Buffet's
The track is a device to transfer money from the (the impatient) to the (patient)
works in a sense

from the (the players) to the ('track take')
works

getting nerdy again; from the (conformists/the herd) to the (informed/insiders)

Thaskalos says: "The racetrack is a device that is utilized to transfer money from the immature to the mature".

From the apprehensive to the plunger. Like Pittsburgh Phil said, "One must copper the public play"

one has to have a big ego, to think they can outwit the collective wisdom of the crowd

Author gets carried away on politics (IIRC left leaning), on other things I've read from her, but in isolation this is some of the more interesting writing on markets that I've come across.

https://www.foss.blog/2008/12/06/mar...emming-factor/

This is the answer for all but a tiny handful of people, and those saying the loudest that they're in that tiny group never actually are (as this site proves on a daily basis).

When I started thinking about this a couple days ago while I was driving around for work, this was kind of the knee jerk response I came up with. Being a gambler, and that is my only involvement in the game, I looked at it purely from that standpoint. But the rake is real, and it's significant, and a lot of people are working real hard to get a cut of it,

so............

...........that brought me here. But there was something missing from this. Why does it move from the gamblers to the others involved in the game? There is something the "winners" have over the losers,

which...........

.......got me to here. Simply, from the uninformed to the informed. But that seemed so nuts and bolts, it didn't feel like it took the emotions into the equation, and there are emotions at every level. Owners, trainers, bettors, all, regardless of how much or little information they have, still have to overcome those many emotions in order to make proper decisions, whether it be making a bet, or placing a horse in the right class of race.

So..........

Because the others involved in the game are doing it for a living...whereas the "gamblers" are doing it as a "serious hobby". The more I stay in this game...the more I realize that, in a heavily-taxed gambling game such as this...there is no money left on the table for the "hobbyist". IMO...the biggest advantage that the "pro" gambler has over the hobbyist is the time element. While the rest of us are working at our regular jobs...the professional gambler is spending that time improving his gambling skills.