Slots Help Horsemen Purses,Not Bettors

[rwwupl]

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/ind...o_horse-r.html


Did any one consider the money from slots could reduce the the cost of betting to the customer,making racing more attractive to the public?

rwwupl

Excerpt from article above:

There’s a “significant trickle-down effect” from that money, said Melinda Tucker, director of racetrack gaming for the state Gaming Control Board.

Two-thirds of the money that horse owners get from purses is spent on expenses such as training fees, feed, grooms and jockeys, she said.

What’s more, Tucker said, $37.7 million more last year went to “breeders awards,” bonuses paid to owners of winning horses that were bred in Pennsylvania. “No one can doubt that the injection of hundreds of millions of dollars from slot-machine play into the horse-racing industry has rescued tracks from closure and saves thousands of jobs,” Fajt said in a statement.

The total money bet on slots last year increased more than 21 percent, and tax revenues directed toward the Pennsylvania Racehorse Development Fund jumped an equivalent amount, with a total of $235.7 million being paid to the fund in 2009.

The majority of that — 80 percent — goes to increase race purses, the money awarded to the owners of winning horses.

That has caused the total paid to winning horses to triple in four years — up from $62.3 million in 2006 to $195.6 million last year.

Bigger purses draw more horses and more races. There were 11,539 live races in Pennsylvania in 2009, a 9 percent increase over 2008.



“That really has had a significant impact in Pennsylvania,” Tucker said.

People are moving their breeding operations to the state, which results in more agricultural jobs and preserved farmland.

But the sum of all betting — the “total handle” — on horse racing has continued to drop.

[trying2win]

rwwupl:

The title of your thread speaks volumes! Here's another prime example on that topic. I've listed a below a link to some info regarding the Calder meet that starts on Sun. Apr. 25/10. Check out the arrogance and indifference to the all-important bettors in the article.


http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...eet-with-slots

--Nowhere in the article can I find any offer to share the slot machine bounty in one form or another with the much beleaguered horse players. And get a load of the naive plan by management of adding more big screen TVs to the Calder track, in the belief it'll make bettors happier. Yeah right! Pardon my sarcasm, but the bettor of today is a lot more enlightened than track managements give them credit for.

--I contend that price-sensitive bettors don't want big screen TVs, they want
relief from Calder's obscene 27 % takeout rates on PICK 3S, PICK 4S, TRIFECTAS AND SUPERFECTAS. Plus, the 18 % takeouts on WIN, PLACE AND SHOW BETS is nothing to write home about either.

-- Hopefully, Calder executives and horsemen will wake up and follow Tampa Bay Downs lead and lower takeouts, so that it puts more money in bettors' pockets. But, I won't hold my breath. Why should only horsemen at Calder benefit from naive people blowing their money on slot machines? If Calder executives and horsemen won't help the bettors, I hope justice is served and horse players stay away in droves from Calder, in person and online. And I hope that more people will get informed to stay away from 'programmed to lose in the long run' games like slot machines and other casinos games, and instead just bet on beatable games like horse racing at other tracks.

T2W

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~"The REAL BOSS is the customer. He pays for your salary and everything you own. If you don't please him or her, they will take their business elsewhere."

--Earl Nightingale
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[cj]

Slots not only don't help bettors, they hurt them. They are terrible for the bettor. They make us irrelavent.

[melman]

Could not agree with you more cj. I think in my home state of Penna. they would not mind at all if there was NO betting on the races. Just have the horsemen race for the purses. I'll support anyone running for office in my state who will take the slot cash from the horsemen and use it to reduce the property tax and the state income tax.

[RXB]

Originally Posted by cj

Slots not only don't help bettors, they hurt them. They are terrible for the bettor. They make us irrelavent.

Having thoroughly corrupted the product and turned people off of the game, the industry apparently sees its future as a "customer-less" pursuit where nobody watches, nobody bets, but they continue to race while getting purse money from slots.

[rwwupl]

Originally Posted by cj

Slots not only don't help bettors, they hurt them. They are terrible for the bettor. They make us irrelavent.

Horse Racing must stand on its own merits for the long term. There is only one way and that is to increase the fan base( and by extention the true handle) ...and that means send home more winners by lowering the take to optimum level. Gimmicks and crutches always fail in the long term.

Sending home more winners will increase the fan base exponentially, and therefore increase handle rapidly, solving most of the problems of all concerned. We are not sending home any winners now.

Will it ever happen? Yes it will. Why?...Because economics is the biggest boss of all of us and economics says follow me or you will be replaced. When will it happen?...When economics dictates that it is time.

The point of posting the above lead story is to point out the selfishness of the different segments of racing to take care of themselves first and not consider the other people invoved or the welfare of the game as a whole.

We have a dysfunctional business model in horse racing that is lopsided politically and financially that must be corrected to put out a better product and give the customers a better deal.

Who will stand up and show us the way?...I believe in Horse Racing, it will happen.

The people love horse racing and we should allow them to prove it again and they will, if we get our house in order.

rwwupl

[Warren Henry]

IMO, the folks asking for and receiving slots have no interest in racing. Racing is only a means to get the slots.

Recently, the owners of racinos in Iowa offered the state big bucks to let them eliminate dog racing. Fortunately, one or two politicians honored their original promises to the dog folks and turned down the offer.

Again, IMO, slots will lead to the demise of racing not to the rescue of the game.

[rrbauer]

Originally Posted by melman

Could not agree with you more cj. I think in my home state of Penna. they would not mind at all if there was NO betting on the races. Just have the horsemen race for the purses. I'll support anyone running for office in my state who will take the slot cash from the horsemen and use it to reduce the property tax and the state income tax.

It's already happening in PA and that trend will not stop until the pols have their tentacles around the total slots' pool.

[Grits]

With an apparent plan agreement for what may soon be billed as:

The New Arlington Park Casino and Racecourse.

One can figure its only a matter of time before the Kentucky legislature finally caves to expanded gaming (slots) and presents:

The New Churchill Downs Casino and Racetrack, Home Of The Kentucky Derby Presented By Yum Brands.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=375431 (read full story)

SPRINGFIELD - An apparent deal at the Capitol would put hundreds of video slot and poker machines at Arlington Park and other horse tracks across the state, the taxes from which would provide millions for construction spending.
As outlined, the tracks would get a needed financial boost from the business, local governments and their sagging budgets would get a cut of the profits and the state's take would help prop up construction financing since video gambling at bars remains an uncertain proposition.

Exactly when, or if, this deal could be voted on is unknown. But discussions have been going on behind the scenes for weeks and a lawmaker involved in them told the Daily Herald that there's finally an agreement.

*******************************************

. . . . . The two will never mix, never interact.

At Oaklawn a few days ago on Arkansas Derby Day, it was crowded as can be. We went over to the casino side. It too was packed with God knows how many square feet of mindless slot pulling junkies of all ages. Gaming tables for plenty of cardplayers too. We walked throughout the entire casino to find but one bar with one flat screen television set on TVG.

It got worse--in all the square footage under this roof, there was ONLY ONE SELF BETTING MACHINE to wager on the horses that were running just outside of the casino's doors. And it took one helluva walk for the guy in search of it to find it.

Understand there were plenty of tellers and machines on the racing side of the building. Horseplayers too, all weekend.

Still, racing will never survive this mindset. There is no co-mingling. The young and the old are there. The degenerate and the yuppy. THEY are content sitting in front of the jangling coins dropping in their cup. The bells and bright lights of their shiny chrome machine; they're not ever going to be interested in the product out back.

[Greyfox]

More money for horsemen is fine by me.
It keeps them in the game.
If field sizes increase that will be good for bettors.

[rwwupl]

Originally Posted by Greyfox

More money for horsemen is fine by me.
It keeps them in the game.
If field sizes increase that will be good for bettors.

As long as there is a purse offered, there will be a man with a horse to run for it. After all,what else does a race horse do?

The bettors do not care how much a horse costs,they only care what are his chances to get the purse today.

The bettors also care if they win or lose. Send home more winners and greet more customers tomorrow.

It is a game fueled by gambling, and we are overpriced for the cost of the bet.

We must meet other forms of gambling...the competition or continue decline.

Downsizing is difficult for any industry, and certain people will scream and have tears for a while, but the business model must be repaired so that all segments are treated fairly... and after things settle the entire industry will be rewarded with success that has escaped us for too long.

rwwupl

[Grits]

Rww, an interesting comment from Avioli, one I've agreed with--two many racetracks, for a long while.

“Instead of 20 well-run tracks we have close to 500 entities that suck off the mother (teat) of that money,” Avioli said. “We need to get rid of some of them.”

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...global-promise

[Horseplayersbet.com]

Originally Posted by Grits

Rww, an interesting comment from Avioli, one I've agreed with--two many racetracks, for a long while.



http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...global-promise

I disagree with the idea there are too many track or too much racing. Maybe if takeout rates remained the same, then yes.

But if we are talking growth which will come about if prices were lowered for the bettor, the amount of tracks and dates we have today are fine.

[Indulto]

Originally Posted by Grits

Rww, an interesting comment from Avioli, one I've agreed with--two many racetracks, for a long while.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/56671/avioli-domestic-issues-thwart-global-promise

Grits,
An accurate statement, but from arguably one of the most overpaid executives in racing. Since there are only 69 tracks listed in the HANA track table, the other 400+ must be off-track bet-takers other than simulcasting tracks who themselves are also underpaying the hosts.

HPB,
The excess in tracks creates excessive demand for unsound/uncompetive horses whose costs are increasing with medication expenses to keep them running over longer seasons, and with more pensioning due to the public's elevated distaste for slaughter.

[Horseplayersbet.com]

The overwhelming majority of horses are bred with profit in mind. Some take advantage of aiming towards purses that are jurisdiction specific. Many allowance horses wind up running for 5k due to injuries and age or a combo of both.
In fact, this is where many wind up, and it doesn't matter how many breeders there are or horses are bred.
Many jobs are dependent both on 5 claimers running and the breeding business.
If you want less horses bred and less runners, the question of the industries viability comes into play, and the game will wind up with even less interest than it has today, as new bettors are brought into the game by going to a live track and/or owning horses many times in partnerships, and many time cheaper horses.