Delaware Cuts Purses Double Digits

[levinmpa]

They gave the slot money to the horsemen, but none of it went to the horseplayers in the form of takeout relief or seeded pools. If they just gave the players a nugget or 2 in the form of takeout relief, they could grow the handle, and wouldn't have to rely on the slots revenue. It seems like a no-brainer, but not one Racino in the country has given any of the slots windfall to the horseplayer. Now they are all in jeopardy of losing the slots revenue while handle decreases. It was so predictable.

[BlueShoe]

Originally Posted by Tom

They will have to card more races to make up for the loss of money.

"No, just raise the takeout a few percentage points to increase the revenue. The fans are too stupid to notice the difference and won't care."

[Redboard]

Originally Posted by levinmpa

They gave the slot money to the horsemen, but none of it went to the horseplayers in the form of takeout relief or seeded pools. If they just gave the players a nugget or 2 in the form of takeout relief, they could grow the handle, and wouldn't have to rely on the slots revenue. It seems like a no-brainer, but not one Racino in the country has given any of the slots windfall to the horseplayer. Now they are all in jeopardy of losing the slots revenue while handle decreases. It was so predictable.

Exactly. Delaware Park had a golden opportunity to make something special before the surrounding states got their own casinos: a short, say two-month, meet (June and July), million dollar a day purses, low takeout on all bets, say 10%. Now who here wouldn’t bite on that?
They HAD the money to do that. But the window of opportunity is gone now. Beautiful track though.

[Fred]

Charles Hayward

After attending the 2014 Asian Racing Conference in May, I wrote a commentary suggesting that wagering indicators in the United States and Great Britain did not compare favorably with the other four major racing jurisdictions: Australia, France, Hong Kong, and Japan. Now, I turn my attention to the U.S. Thoroughbred racing business.

There is a longstanding and serious structural problem in Thoroughbred racing in the U.S. The highest quality racetracks do not receive appropriate compensation for their signal in the simulcast and Advance Deposit Wagering (ADW) markets. In addition, too many small, low-level tracks are incentivized to run races to maintain their simulcast or alternative gaming licenses. Races run at low-rung claiming levels do not make economic contributions back to the industry in the form of purses and breeder awards, and research has shown that horses running in claiming races run a higher risk of sustaining catastrophic injuries.

~~read the rest at link~~

https://www.thoroughbredracing.com/c...ture-us-racing

[VeryOldMan]

FYI - here's the URL to the article in Fred's post:

https://www.thoroughbredracing.com/c...ture-us-racing

[JustRalph]

Originally Posted by Big Russ

Del Park is one of my favorite places to attend live racing. I cannot imagine how losing a venue such as this could be good for our sport. Yes, it's incredibly frustrating that there are not enough owners/horses to support the amount of racing going on in the summer. But the long-term solution is not to keep closing tracks and cutting racing. We must grow interest to the point where we get a lot more people involved as owners.

This ship has sailed. Never coming back. Contraction is the only answer

[badcompany]

What's happening in Upstate NY will probably be the model for how casinos extricate themselves from Horseracing:

A company that owns a Racino gets a license to open a full service casino somewhat nearby.

The new casino canabalizes the customers of the Racino.

The company closes the, now unprofitable, Racino, and ends it relationship with Horseracing.

[Cholly]

Originally Posted by VeryOldMan

FYI - here's the URL to the article in Fred's post:

https://www.thoroughbredracing.com/c...ture-us-racing

That's a very good op-ed piece. It puts in quantitative terms some things you just knew intuitively were askew. That stat about prize money yield is an eye-opener.

Thanks Fred & veryveryOld for the post + link.

[gheuks]

Only eight races on a Saturday, one of which is an Arabian race?? Awful field size the past few years and now this. Del park is becoming what it was prior to slots... Beautiful track with cheap claimers

[therussmeister]

Originally Posted by levinmpa

They gave the slot money to the horsemen, but none of it went to the horseplayers in the form of takeout relief or seeded pools. If they just gave the players a nugget or 2 in the form of takeout relief, they could grow the handle, and wouldn't have to rely on the slots revenue. It seems like a no-brainer, but not one Racino in the country has given any of the slots windfall to the horseplayer. Now they are all in jeopardy of losing the slots revenue while handle decreases. It was so predictable.

Prairie Meadows reduced their takeout when they first got slots, and Delaware Park had reduced exacta takeout for on-track bettors.

[Shemp Howard]

[QUOTE=therussmeister]Prairie Meadows reduced their takeout when they first got slots, and Delaware Park had reduced exacta takeout for on-track bettors.[/QUOTE]

All 3 of them?

[alhattab]

Originally Posted by JustRalph

This ship has sailed. Never coming back. Contraction is the only answer

It really is. Tracks like Delaware serve very few fans compared to a track like Monmouth which will draw 20,000 people over the course of a 3 day weekend. We need the product to be stronger at the tracks that can draw live bodies in order for the sport to grow. In the East, I'd love to see a boutique meet at Delaware run around the Delaware Handicap, and for Parx to close during the summer and re-open with a bang in September for the PA Derby meet. It's a UK-like model for a region that has a similar geographic dispersion of tracks to the UK.

I'm obviously partial to Monmouth but think that strong racing at the well-attended venues is what is best for the sport. Those who have been there know that it draws a fairly young crowd because it is a part of the community here. That helps perpetuate interest in the sport long-term.

[Stillriledup]

Didnt want to start a new topic, but the 2nd race exa at Delaware was only 200 and change? Did i see that right?

[castaway01]

Originally Posted by Stillriledup

Didnt want to start a new topic, but the 2nd race exa at Delaware was only 200 and change? Did i see that right?

$577

[Secondbest]

I just read that suffolk might close.I t seems They lost a to Wynn to build a casino.Anyone else read that?