Keeneland apparently raising takeout

[cj]

Originally Posted by Fager Fan

You have to get your key facts straight. They're NOT a non-profit and haven't been for many years.

https://www.paulickreport.com/news/r...wns-keeneland/

[Afleet]

Originally Posted by Jeff P

I'll start by asking for horseplayer opinion.

Link to a short survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WN2RCG2


Feel free to share the link with other players.



-jp

.

I'm in w/the boycott even though Keeneland is my favorite track

[Afleet]

Originally Posted by Andy Asaro

For the record I don't believe I represent all Horseplayers. I act alone because I am a true believer about what the game can be.

I've read a lot of your comments on many sites. I agree w/almost everything you do. Horse racing should be the greatest gambling game, but w/rampant drugs, cheating, onerous takeout, etc., it keeps declining. Sometimes I think that there are only a few people that care about the customer/game and you are one of them. Keep up the good fight.

[lamboguy]

above poster nailed it

[Track Phantom]

Originally Posted by Afleet

I've read a lot of your comments on many sites. I agree w/almost everything you do. Horse racing should be the greatest gambling game, but w/rampant drugs, cheating, onerous takeout, etc., it keeps declining. Sometimes I think that there are only a few people that care about the customer/game and you are one of them. Keep up the good fight.

I agree. I applaud those who are trying. I just wish the myopic view on takeout would be expanded to other areas but we each have our opinions on what is priority.

[classhandicapper]

Originally Posted by AndyC

Has there ever been an effective boycott that made a track change something important for the bettors?

Not that I know of.

Maybe if we made a serious effort at it we couldn't sustain it long enough to be effective anyway. It just seem that every once in awhile a thread like this pops up, everyone vents, and then we don't follow through. I don't have the time or connections to organize the effort. I also probably don't garner the respect required to lead the effort. But I can certainly come up with ideas and help get out the message if someone else wants to try.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by classhandicapper

+1

I went to Keeneland for the first time this year and loved both the track and the Lexington area. Now I'm not sure whether I should be upset because they are idiots or pissed off because they are scumbags.

I went there once a few years ago with an HTR group. Beautiful place, great set up, nice area, good food options. Best part about it was...there was no live racing! IMHO, WORST POS track for racing ever built. I would plant corn on that miserable excuse of a tract. I would rather clean toilets than bet that track.

Now I have another reason avoid it. KEE is not on my Bucket List, bit it tops my *ucket list.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by AndyC

Has there ever been an effective boycott that made a track change something important for the bettors?

I am still honoring the boycott of GP and all California racing started years ago. A little help, guys....

[porchy44]

Myself, I'm pissed off about the increase in takeout. The average bettor will not even realize an increase in takeout though. last time I was at Keeneland a woman asked me if the lead pony was running in that race today.

[magwell]

Originally Posted by porchy44

Myself, I'm pissed off about the increase in takeout. The average bettor will not even realize an increase in takeout though. last time I was at Keeneland a woman asked me if the lead pony was running in that race today.

Your probably right.......

[ReplayRandall]

Originally Posted by porchy44

Myself, I'm pissed off about the increase in takeout. The average bettor will not even realize an increase in takeout though. last time I was at Keeneland a woman asked me if the lead pony was running in that race today.

That's right, Keeneland's nice little boutique meet attracts some live fun money, who could care less what the takeout is. But, for management to jack-up the takeout tells the semi/pro serious player, "We could give a damn about you".....Little do they realize, if you piss me off, you get nothing from me even though my action represents 50 of your "fun" bettors.

Sometimes, I really don't give two craps about horse racing when tracks pull nonsense like this....Have fun trying to get back my action when I'm done with you, permanently.

[Ian Meyers]

Originally Posted by Andy Asaro

You'd have to ask Ian Meyers or someone else about specifics.

My understanding is that KEE host fees for many sites were increased by approx 1%. For all I know, host fees could have gone up to every KEE guest site but I don't that for a fact.

CJ mentioned the ramp up in host fees in a previous post. When I was first exposed to the industry in the late 1990s thru the rebate shops where I gambled, the average host fee was about 3%.

By the time we started one in 2006, the smaller tracks were still in the 3-4% range, the premium signals at 6-7%.

Now, most premium content is north of 10%, some as high as 15% for certain bet types. The second tier tracks average 7-8% and even the very small ones are 5%. Of course, the past 5 years has also seen an exponential increase in source market fees, many as high as 5%, that the ADW must pay in certain states.

In the meantime, the hold (difference between what an ADW nets and what it pays in rebates) has shrunk dramatically. I've argued to my ADW clients that their average holds don't compensate for the credit risk they take on from some tracks that are virtually insolvent. Those tracks struggle to pay their operating expenses each month, and are consistently behind on their track settlements. When a track goes bust, ADWs become unsecured creditors, even though the amounts owed to them by that track were from pari-mutuel winnings not general obligations. ADWs took it in the shorts when Balmoral/Maywood went bust two years ago. To the best of my knowledge, all of them sucked it up and paid their players even though they had to do that out of pocket.

At some point there will be a large failure that will costs ADWs hundrends of thousand or millions of dollars and there will be very little ink spilled over it. Now if the horsemen get shorted purse account monies, well that will be front page news.

[Andy Asaro]

Hope people stand up for one last big fight. I wouldn't be able to handle going out backing up and laying down. I'll pass this upcoming meet and we need to tell people who may not know how they can help.

[jms62]

Originally Posted by Andy Asaro

Hope people stand up for one last big fight. I wouldn't be able to handle going out backing up and laying down. I'll pass this upcoming meet and we need to tell people who may not know how they can help.

+1

We should also get the message to tourney sites and vow to boycott their tourney's if they include Keeneland.

[Andy Asaro]

Originally Posted by jms62

+1

We should also get the message to tourney sites and vow to boycott their tourney's if they include Keeneland.

Great idea! Keep'em coming.

Twitter

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Last edited by Andy Asaro; 08-10-2017 at 06:16 AM.