California is being boycotted because of the jackpot provision being paid to the jackpot with the surface change when everyone was given ALL in the last race. The 15% should be paid out when there is an all race because the chances of a single ticket are much less likely.
There have been problems with this wager going back to last year at GG, then at Del Mar, and now this. The bet should have been suspended until such time as the rule was fixed where it paid out the 15% in the event of an all race in the P6.
The CHRB and Santa Anita didn't even know why we were pissed off. They had no idea that the 15% being paid to the jackpot was the reason. They thought it was over a unique ticket and the jackpot being paid if there was one ticket with 5. I was the first person they contacted because of my email list of Gamblers and Industry Insiders that I blast just about every day several times a day. Most of the CHRB Board members are on it, so are TOC officials, and Track Execs. In recent years the CHRB spokesperson Mike Marten will hit reply to all to reply to an email containing a complaint. This guy is the only real expert at the CHRB and I don't know of any jurisdiction with someone like him answering questions sometimes withing minutes but usually within hours of an email/incident.
We have an old score to settle with California Racing which is now failing badly. They seem to care less and less about integrity as they become more desperate for revenue. Take how the fairs handle their jackpot bet. There is no particular mandatory payout for each fair meet. They carryover into the next meet. Most people don't know that and the dumb money helps the jackpot go higher with no mandatory payout. They disclose this is fine print somewhere on the website while insisting that they are informing the public. Bullshit.
As far as the boycott in 2011 goes we got the Players Pick 5 at 14% take and that has proven to be a huge success over the years. In addition the DD's are now 20% which is less than it was before the takeout hike. Additionally they were going to raise WPS to 17% if there was no pushback. They were wrong about pushback. Ca. was on pace to be down 450 million until H.P. put in the P5. That effectively stopped the boycott and handle ended up about 250 million down. I often lament the fact that if I knew then what I know now I would have never suggested and pushed for the wager. The boycott would have been devastating to the point that they would have been forced to make many more changes. But, how could anyone know that after the success of the P5 that they would do nothing since when it comes to takeout and wagering menu adjustments of any significance?
HANA has now taken the word of an employee of Santa Anita who said he had a message from Joe Morris of a promise to fix the rule. When have they ever followed through on a promise like this? How about never. The Letter to Frank Stronach was my idea because there are high level meetings being held since Monday. The hope was that Frank or Belinda would see the letter at the beginning of the meetings so they could make a more informed decision (neither one of them know much about anything that has gone on since the boycott). By not sending it Monday afternoon we lost that edge which may have prompted an immediate fix since the boycott isn't until next week from March 23rd to March 26th. It was intended to present a new boycott model to take around the country if it worked. The premise being that if a jurisdiction screws up the pay an almost immediate loss of revenue penalty. I was figuring that if it worked we would move on to Gulfstream next mainly over chronically mistiming races and extreme post dragging.
Even though HANA has backed out of the boycott some of us are going through with it on principle even though it is much less likely that we can hurt them. Most of the people being ripped off by jackpot bets are those that don't know a lot about gambling IMO. People who are being ripped off and who don't know better need HANA all the more but it seems that they are being ignored in this situation.
As far as my solution for California Racing you can click this link.
http://www.paulickreport.com/horsepl...-horse-racing/
Both Jim Gagliano of the Jockey Club and Alex Waldrop of the NTRA have to help promote Ca. Racing as a test jurisdiction for selling racing as a gambling game of skill. As far as I know it would be the first time that has been done. The free publicity after the changes would be worth hundredths of thousands of dollars and help generate millions in increased revenue IMO.
BTW the link provided in the direct message on Twitter was to the old rules. When I first got it I assumed they were the new rules. They were not.
This situation should piss everyone off and everyone should want a rapid response boycott model if there is one. This would have been an experiment that may have resulted in that model.
Remember that when something happens that hurts the integrity we have to stand up together to change an injustice. Even if we aren't successful in getting change not standing up at all is much worse IMO.
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