Playersboycott.com Active. Grassroots Movement Starts

[GregReinhart]

http://www.horseraceinsider.com/John...dustry-wake-up

The boycott isn't only about the egregious takeout increase. This is about an industry that refuses to listen intently to what their customers are saying. It happens time and again.

This is about an industry that's still stuck in the 1980s when it comes to eliminating breakage, or timing races more meaningfully and upgrading coding of the tote system so that the information you see is what you get in real time and not after a race has begun.

Horse Racing 2014 style is still being played on eight-track cassettes, as if there were no such thing as the digital age. Haven’t you had enough?

http://playersboycott.org/

[Stillriledup]

Time to get your game back, brick by brick.

Its time to stand for something.

Its time to say "enough is enough".

[thaskalos]

I have emptied out my Twinspires account...and I vow never to place another bet at an CHDN-owned racetrack again. This is about much more than just the most recent takeout increase. It's about the horseplayers finally uniting...and proving that they are a force to be reckoned with. CHDN is only the tip of the iceberg here. In this, the era of the ever-decreasing parimutuel pools, the other racetracks are contemplating similar takeout increases...and they are patiently waiting in the wings to see what the horseplayer's reaction will be. The horseplayer's reaction should be clear and unmistakable; WE ARE AS MAD AS HELL...AND WE ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!

When we act as if we are gambling-addicted degenerates, then we invite them to treat us as such...and we have no right to complain.

[tzipi]

Originally Posted by Stillriledup

Time to get your game back, brick by brick.

Its time to stand for something.

Its time to say "enough is enough".

I feel like the boycott and change should've been called for 10-20 yrs ago. I feel with the government backed casinos now in the door, the mass drug exposure(to the public) and fan decline, it might be too late.

[PaceAdvantage]

This is looking like it's going to end up like all other player "boycotts" end up...not working out too well.

Unless you can get some whales to join the movement, it isn't going to amount to much.

How are you going to get the whales to join?

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by PaceAdvantage

This is looking like it's going to end up like all other player "boycotts" end up...not working out too well.

Unless you can get some whales to join the movement, it isn't going to amount to much.

How are you going to get the whales to join?

Who cares about the whales? Aren't we constantly being told that the $2-bettor is the backbone of the industry?

[OTM Al]

You missed the bet part of that article a few paragraphs earlier

"If everyone reduced the size of their wagers--playing smarter, not higher--handle can be impacted dramatically, perhaps 15% or more on opening night and at least 5% on Oaks and Derby Day."

Huh?

The message seems to be boycott CDI but go ahead and play the Derby at the least (or at the worst bet less but make better bets????).... I think this is exactly what CDI wants you to do. The people that run this company are not stupid despite what many seem to think. The fact that a large number of responses to this action say that they are still going to play the Derby tells me that the optimal takeout rate for the Derby must be much higher than that previously employed. The amount CDI make on the Derby covers them pretty well for the rest of the meet and do realize they get more from ADWs on Derby and Oaks day than they do the rest of the year. Throw in ticket revenue, food sales and sponsorships and the loss from such a boycott will amount to about nothing.

Whatever people want to do is up to them but this "kinda boycott" stance has me a bit confused.

[PaceAdvantage]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

Who cares about the whales? Aren't we constantly being told that the $2-bettor is the backbone of the industry?

$2 bettors don't wake up the people making the decisions about takeout.

People don't notice $2 bettors. Even a lot of them combined.

They will notice, however, if just one whale stops betting a certain track.

[luisbe]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

I have emptied out my Twinspires account...and I vow never to place another bet at an CHDN-owned racetrack again. This is about much more than just the most recent takeout increase. It's about the horseplayers finally uniting...and proving that they are a force to be reckoned with. CHDN is only the tip of the iceberg here. In this, the era of the ever-decreasing parimutuel pools, the other racetracks are contemplating similar takeout increases...and they are patiently waiting in the wings to see what the horseplayer's reaction will be. The horseplayer's reaction should be clear and unmistakable; WE ARE AS MAD AS HELL...AND WE ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!

When we act as if we are gambling-addicted degenerates, then we invite them to treat us as such...and we have no right to complain.

I second that word by word.

[luisbe]

Originally Posted by PaceAdvantage

This is looking like it's going to end up like all other player "boycotts" end up...not working out too well.

Unless you can get some whales to join the movement, it isn't going to amount to much.

How are you going to get the whales to join?

The little from a crowd is huge as well as huge is from a very few.

[Dave Schwartz]

Who cares about the whales? Aren't we constantly being told that the $2-bettor is the backbone of the industry?

There are two potential answers here:

1. Only by $2 bettors.

2. Not in about the last 40 years.

Sad, but true.



The "backbone of the industry" (if you ask a track exec) is either:

1. a guy who is willing to lose $500 per day 4 or 5 days per week (told to me by a track exec).

2. a guy who buys race horses because they are the customer in racing (told to me by a track consultant).


Again, sad, but true.

[Stillriledup]

Originally Posted by PaceAdvantage

This is looking like it's going to end up like all other player "boycotts" end up...not working out too well.

Unless you can get some whales to join the movement, it isn't going to amount to much.

How are you going to get the whales to join?

Whales might not completely boycott the product, but most whales got to be whales by being very price sensitive, and when their effective rebate gets lowered (rebate gets higher, but effective takeout for them gets higher too and doesn't offset the raise) they will bet less, or, some of them, not at all.

Here's the thing about Whales, they are more price sensitive than 2 dollar bettors and if you take away part of the rebate that they are used to getting, they will notice...and react. They also realize that if they don't react to this "takeout raise" by Churchill, other tracks will keep jacking up signal fees and their rebates will get lower and lower.

So, will they stop altogether? Probably not. Will they bet less? Almost a certainty.

[PhantomOnTour]

I boycott CD every year for ~363 days...only bets are Oaks and Derby days, and if I like the Stephen Foster or Clark cards.
Never even look at the pp's from CD on any other day.

[therussmeister]

If takeout increases are so bad for business, (and I think they are), there is no need to organize a boycott, handle will drop of it's own volition, which is a good thing because I guarantee only a tiny fraction of horseplayers will ever be aware of this boycott.

For the record, I'm playing Churchill on Wednesday when only two tracks are running early.

[Robert Goren]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

Who cares about the whales? Aren't we constantly being told that the $2-bettor is the backbone of the industry?

Who is saying that?