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[Stillriledup]

Stephen was chatting with fans over at the Paulick report, i asked him this question, and he answered.

Mr Burn, you seem like a smart guy, i enjoyed your interview with Todd on TVG the other day. You are supporting a takeout raise in Cal of 2 or 3 percent. As i’m sure you are well aware, many studies have been done and to my knowledge, none of the studies say that a 23 percent takeout is the optimal pricing point.

Do you disagree with all the studies that have said the optimal price of a bet is NOT 23 percent? Like i said, you’re a fairly intelligent guy, i can’t imagine that you really believe a takeout raise is good for the california racing industry.


Stephen Burn said:

stillriledup, as a horseplayer I would accept that an increased take out of any kind would be unpalatable. However, as that same horseplayer, I want to see a healthy sport that has the chance of a long-term future and people with much more knowledge than me of California racing believe this will help the sport. It is worth noting that other states already have take outs that exceed California. In the UK, there is a healthy Tote industry and some of the most successful bets have a take out of 30%.
To me, we should be looking at how to rebate price sensitive customers so that skilled horseplayers who put a lot of money into pools are given a loyalty bonus or rakeback. I struggle to understand why US racing is so willing to cooperate with offshore rebate shops that suck the life out of the sport. We should be exploring ways of bringing that business back onshore and, at the same time, rewarding regular players with rebates. It should be the operator that stands the price of those rebates and not the sport but they could only do that if working out the right pricing formula all round. Irrespective of what happens to AB2414, I hope that issue will be explored by the industry.


Now, it seems that Ray Paulick locked that thread, so i'll try and respond to this here.

Mr Burn seems to think that the horseplayer is responsible for the health of the industry. I would ask him this. If the long term health of the industry is so important, why not lower the price of the bets to get the fans back into the game? Also, why not ask jockeys and trainers to take a 50 percent pay cut on their commissions and day rates? This way, more owners can afford to stay in the game, they'll get more purse money at the end of the day.

The richest trainers and jockeys have sucked millions out of the game, a large chunk of that money (or, all of it) comes from the horseplayers and the owners. Not only do owners pay a day rate to a trainer win or lose, but they also pay part of their winning purse to those guys too, right?

What am i missing here.

Horseplayers have no voice, this is why tracks can just grab and extra 3 percent here and there and there's nothing the players can do. If someone suggest the trainers and jocks take a pay cut, all hell would break loose.