THE RACINO EXPERIMENT I'D LIKE TO SEE

[Edward DeVere]

Forgive me if someone here has already suggested the following, but this is the slots subsidy I'd like to see:

Take 50%-100% of slots money going into purses and use it to reduce takeout. I have no idea how much takeout could be reduced with this method, but if GREATLY reduced takeout would lead to significantly HIGHER handle (as we in the betting community insist), purses could be adjusted back up, and sustained.

Yes? No?

[Stillriledup]

I agree, not all money needs to go to owners. The key is to take that slots money and use it to increase handle, i think that if you take some of the money and have carryovers with it, handle gets increased.

If you take 20k for example and say that we have a 20k pick 4 carryover, your pick 4 pool will jump way up. And, your general handle will increase because when players handicap 4 races to bet the pick 4, they're more than likely going to make other non pick 4 wagers on those 4 races.

Here's more on the subject.
http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/s...t+money+owners

[Zman179]

No. Why? Because horsemen won't go for it.

http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/nat...-march-11.aspx

For March 2011 compared with March 2010, wagering on Thoroughbred races was down 9.96%...the immediate news was not as bad for horsemen, as purses managed to increase 6.09%

[lamboguy]

NO-NO-NO

use the money to restructure the game so it can stand on its own feet without slot machines.

[Robert Goren]

Originally Posted by lamboguy

NO-NO-NO

use the money to restructure the game so it can stand on its own feet without slot machines.

You are right. Get rid of the slots at race tracks period. As long as they are there, the horse racing will play second fiddle to the slots in the eyes of management. Horse racing must find a way to stand on its own two feet in order to survive. All that slots do is put off the inevitable. At rate we are going in twenty years there only be a half a dozen or so racinos still running (and no race track onlys), but a bunch of slot pallors where there used to be race tracks. I hope racing see the errors of its ways, but I have no sign of it yet.

[Stillriledup]

Originally Posted by lamboguy

NO-NO-NO

use the money to restructure the game so it can stand on its own feet without slot machines.

Any general thoughs on that restructuring? What do you suggest, i know you have a bunch of great ideas.

[Charli125]

Originally Posted by Edward DeVere

Forgive me if someone here has already suggested the following, but this is the slots subsidy I'd like to see:

Take 50%-100% of slots money going into purses and use it to reduce takeout. I have no idea how much takeout could be reduced with this method, but if GREATLY reduced takeout would lead to significantly HIGHER handle (as we in the betting community insist), purses could be adjusted back up, and sustained.

Yes? No?

It's a great idea as long as we have slot subsidies, though i agree with the other posters that the game needs to learn to survive on it's own.

I've never heard of a track lowering takeout with slots, in fact places like Penn have ridiculously high takeout despite slot fueled purses.

[jelly]

Originally Posted by Charli125

It's a great idea as long as we have slot subsidies, though i agree with the other posters that the game needs to learn to survive on it's own.

I've never heard of a track lowering takeout with slots, in fact places like Penn have ridiculously high takeout despite slot fueled purses.

Wasted opportunities!

[Gallop58]

I believe the general consensus is that helping the "agriculture" sector of the economy is best done via owners through purse supplementation.
Things like "growing the game" are not top of the agenda as far as I can see.

To fund lower takeout, firstly you'd need to argue that game growth is worthy of the slot money and I suppose one would have to prove that a dollar spent lowering takeout leads to an increase in purses of >$1. With direct purse supplementation at least you cut out the track as middle man as there is no doubt they can find a way to make sure the ROI <$1.
My preferred approach would be for the slot money to directly support the ag sector to lower the cost of production. Unfortunately, when/if slots dry up, you create a situation where purses will shrivel and cost of production goes up as slot subsidies shrink.
It is not clear to me that this is a net gain for the ag sector or the game.
At least with the current system it's cleaner and has less government management fo the money. It does however make it difficult to decipher the benefit society gets out of the slots supplements.

There are two ways to make money, earn it or get the government to give you some. When the Gov gets involved everyone wants a piece of the pie, players included.