Exchange Wagering Meeting - Feb. 9

[Al Gobbi]

Excahnge Wagering and Ad Hoc meeting of the California Horse Racing Board will be held on Thursday, February 9, 2012, commencing at 9:30 a.m., in the Baldwin Terrace Room at the Santa Anita Park Race Track, 285 West Huntington Drive, Arcadia, California.

The audio portion only of the California Horse Racing Board regular meeting will be available online through a link at the CHRB website (www.chrb.ca.gov) under “Webcasts.”

Agenda:
http://www.chrb.ca.gov/Board/committ...2_wagering.pdf

[Caroline]

So the exchange wagering portion of the meeting is open to the public? And HANA is represented (those whoever typed up the agenda seems not to know what it stands for...)

[Jeff P]

We have been asked by the CHRB to provide input and will be there to present a Horseplayer centric perspective.

Somehow whoever typed up the meeting agenda has HANA identified as the Horsemen's Association of North America.

Too funny.

-jp

.

[BillW]

Originally Posted by Jeff P

We have been asked by the CHRB to provide input and will be there to present a Horseplayer centric perspective.

Somehow whoever typed up the meeting agenda has HANA identified as the Horsemen's Association of North America.

Too funny.

-jp

.

I can see it now when you walk in "Who in hell invited THEM"?

[lamboguy]

just wonder what position HANA has with exchange wagering?

[Hosshead]

I was wondering the same thing.

[Jeff P]

I can't say that HANA has an official position on exchange wagering.

I can tell you that we have done several surveys and that our surveys share a consistent theme: We ask horseplayers to tell us what THEY see as the crucial factors driving their betting behavior.

I will tell you that horseplayers have consistently named the same three issues each time they were surveyed.

In order of importance - as ranked by responses from player surveys - the three things players see as most crucial to their continued participation in racing as a game are:

1. High Takeout

2. Odds That Change After the Bell

2. Drugs


Dissecting those three things –

Takeout helps determine the odds. The odds in turn determine value. We live in a day and age when horseplayers are consumers. Like all consumers we horseplayers demand VALUE when we spend money.

Odds that change after the bell is a value issue. No one wants to bet a horse at 7/2 approaching the gate only to see the odds drop to 8/5 going around the far turn.

Odds that change after the bell is also an integrity issue. When the odds plummet on contending horses during the running of a race it gives the appearance that somebody somewhere is cheating by betting after the bell.

Drugs is an integrity issue. Simply put: Horseplayers have grown sick and tired of seeing trainers get away with slap on the wrist penalties after getting caught with their Xth career drug positive. The overwhelming majority of them want the game cleaned up.


Transitioning back to Exchange Wagering –

Exchange Wagering offers players several advantages.

Imagine after handicapping a race you now have the ability to shop for odds. (I have been told by players from outside the US that more often than not they can find higher odds for the same horse on the exchange than they can on the pari-mutuel tote.)

Imagine what it would feel like after shopping for odds and locking in your bet at the best odds you could find – that you no longer have to worry about your odds getting cut in half during the running of a race.

Exchange Wagering appears to address two of the Big Three that players consistently name as crucial to their continued participation in racing as a game.

Exchange Wagering also gives players more choices than they have now.

Because of this, I am leaning towards giving it a chance.


-jp

.

[Hosshead]

Originally Posted by Jeff P

I can't say that HANA has an official position on exchange wagering.

I can tell you that we have done several surveys and that our surveys share a consistent theme: We ask horseplayers to tell us what THEY see as the crucial factors driving their betting behavior.

I will tell you that horseplayers have consistently named the same three issues each time they were surveyed.

In order of importance - as ranked by responses from player surveys - the three things players see as most crucial to their continued participation in racing as a game are:

1. High Takeout

2. Odds That Change After the Bell

2. Drugs


Dissecting those three things –

Takeout helps determine the odds. The odds in turn determine value. We live in a day and age when horseplayers are consumers. Like all consumers we horseplayers demand VALUE when we spend money.

Odds that change after the bell is a value issue. No one wants to bet a horse at 7/2 approaching the gate only to see the odds drop to 8/5 going around the far turn.

Odds that change after the bell is also an integrity issue. When the odds plummet on contending horses during the running of a race it gives the appearance that somebody somewhere is cheating by betting after the bell.

Drugs is an integrity issue. Simply put: Horseplayers have grown sick and tired of seeing trainers get away with slap on the wrist penalties after getting caught with their Xth career drug positive. The overwhelming majority of them want the game cleaned up.


Transitioning back to Exchange Wagering –

Exchange Wagering offers players several advantages.

Imagine after handicapping a race you now have the ability to shop for odds. (I have been told by players from outside the US that more often than not they can find higher odds for the same horse on the exchange than they can on the pari-mutuel tote.)

Imagine what it would feel like after shopping for odds and locking in your bet at the best odds you could find – that you no longer have to worry about your odds getting cut in half during the running of a race.

Exchange Wagering appears to address two of the Big Three that players consistently name as crucial to their continued participation in racing as a game.

Exchange Wagering also gives players more choices than they have now.

Because of this, I am leaning towards giving it a chance.


-jp

.

I understand what you are saying about "shopping for odds" BUT:

Exchange Wagering Will Result In Smaller Track Pools for the rest of us.

The "river" of wagering money will have a new diversion, resulting in less money (downstream) in the "normal" win pools.

[David-LV]

Very bad idea, impossible to police.
Will divert money away from pari mutual pools when the industry can least afford it.
This has ruined racing in England and will put the last nail in the coffin of American racing.

________
David-LV

[duncan04]

“We think this would be just terrible for us,” said trainer John Sadler, representing California Thoroughbred Trainers. “A lot of people are going to be accused (of race fixing) even if they’re not guilty. We’re terrified of this. I spoke to trainer John Gosden, and he told me that it makes good people cheat and is the worst thing that ever happened to English racing. This is going to be the first time you can bet to lose, and we don’t think it’s a good idea.”

Read more: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...#ixzz1lxcDqAmI

[Robert Goren]

Shock! Shock! The horsemen are going to oppose exchange betting tooth and nail. It means less of the betting dollar going to them. Everything else that they say may or may not be true, but the bottom line is the real reason they oppose it.

[AndyC]

Originally Posted by Hosshead

I understand what you are saying about "shopping for odds" BUT:

Exchange Wagering Will Result In Smaller Track Pools for the rest of us.

The "river" of wagering money will have a new diversion, resulting in less money (downstream) in the "normal" win pools.

The overwhelming majority of tote action is NOT in the W-P-S pools. There is very little downside risk for trying exchange wagering but there is a huge upside.

[Hosshead]

Originally Posted by AndyC

The overwhelming majority of tote action is NOT in the W-P-S pools. There is very little downside risk for trying exchange wagering but there is a huge upside.

The last thing we need is smaller Win Pools, and Exchange Wagering will result in just that.

[AndyC]

Originally Posted by Hosshead

The last thing we need is smaller Win Pools, and Exchange Wagering will result in just that.

Why is maintaining the current size of the win pools so important?

To me I think it is far more important to grow the sport by providing sophisticated gamblers fixed odds. I think it is more important, for me, to know that when my horse leaves the gate that I don't have to keep checking the tote board for late changes. I think it is far more important to provide the race bettor an alternative to w-p-s tote takeout rates. Those rates are typically 33-67% lower.

The last thing we need is to maintain the status quo which was last seen driving racing right over a cliff.

Exchange wagering doesn't replace the tote it supplements it.

[chickenhead]

it'd be ideal if the exchange was available on track, somehow. I suppose via phones it is, but more directly via machine.

I'm just trying to think through why anyone would want to use the win pool if a lower priced, fixed odds exchange existed...availability is about the only thing I can think of -- but that isn't impossible, just an implementation issue.

They should seek to make exchange betting available on track.