This may sound like a pro-Magna post in the context of the recent NYRA-Magna thread, but that\'s not my intent. (I figured out Magna was bad news when they hired Garth Drabinsky as a consultant post-Livent.)
Based on the loyalties of NYRA customers expressed in the thread and NYRA\'s lowered takeout, one might expect NYRA to be doing well, but its financial woes are well-chronicled in the thread.
I\'ve read about the loss of OTB handle when OTB started to take more competing signals, but it strikes me that NYRA\'s problems began before that.
Is it that nobody (without slots) can make money running racetracks these days?
Does NYRA pay some exorbitant sum to New York State?
Are horseplayers really not that takeout-sensitive when deciding what track(s) to play (see Calder)?
Is it that simulcast facilities and account wagering companies now give bettors more alternative tracks to play? (For example, I know that Del Mar stopped offering the full card from Saratoga last summer so that they could (under the out-of-state-races limit) offer more races from other tracks later in the day.)
Some of NYRA\'s problems are self-induced, and others are rooted in forces beyond their control. There\'s no denying that NYRA was run in shoddy fashion for years. Going way back, their biggest gaffe was their resistance to off track betting, which, of course, set up a situation where scuzzy, hole-in-the-wall OTB parlors shaped the image of racing in an incredibly negative way. I mean, if you paid a high-end advertising outfit big bucks to come up with a campaign to turn people off to racing, and they showed you something that resembled a standard OTB parlor, you\'d pat them on the back and thank them for a job well done.
More recently, senior management either knew about and ignored, or didn\'t know about (either one is bad) of the teller scandal. To sum up that beauty, tellers bet on races, in violation of state law, then were allowed to short their cash drawers (and use the cash to cover betting losses, run their own loan-sharking shops, etc), and then, finally, were allowed to use those shortages to cheat on their federal taxes. In the meantime, someone or some group in senior management began improperly using money from the horsemen\'s purse account to, I think, cover general expenses. There was some sort of investigation into the way NYRA handled bidding on contracts during this time as well. When the state AG and the Feds started investigating these matters, the policy of NYRA senior management was to stonewall, obfuscate, and generally act in a belligerent and condescending manner toward the investigating authorities and the press. And all the while, NYRA\'s Board of Trustees, charged with oversight of the organization, apparently had their heads planted so far up their behinds that they had either no clue or no interest that any of this was going on.
So, despite the fact that I think Barry Schwartz does have the interests of the player in mind, and the fact that I quite like the racing product at Belmont and Saratoga, NYRA definitely deserves plenty of the blame for their current fate.
The forces beyond their control have probably been talked about here before, but obviously the competition from other gambling sources is the one that has put the biggest dent into their handle, and when you ask \"Is it that nobody (without slots) can make money running racetracks these days?\", I have to wonder if the ubiquity of this competition makes the answer to that question \"no\". You can hardly walk through a convenience or grocery store these days without tripping over a lottery device of some type, and then of course there are the casinos, all over the place, starring the much-loved one-armed bandits. Me and my racing-loving friends scoff at slot machines, but they\'re very popular with the masses, and it\'s easy to see why; they require no brain power to use, they let you experience the sensation of winning with regularity, you know they haven\'t been pumped full of illegal, performance-enhancing meds, and you know they\'re not in cahoots with the machine next door plotting against you. I\'ve read that handle in NY is, after adjusting for inflation, about 1/3 of what it was thirty years ago, and even exemplary management from NYRA in that time wouldn\'t have managed to limit the damage caused by the explosion in other forms of betting.
Anyway, that\'s one man\'s take on why NYRA has hit the skids and is in real jeopardy of losing the franchise.
Post Edited (05-20-04 00:53)
So a few years ago the NYRA decides to buy these new Vegas stlyle matrix odds boards that are capable of displaying odds and results and late changes.
The problem is that to fit all this information on they can only display six races at a time. Either the odds, or morning line, for races 1-6, or 4-9 will be displayed at any given time.
This means, of course, if you run over to see the odds one last time before rushing to the windows, the odds for the race you\'re eager to bet might not be readily available.
You want to bet the first but you have to look at the morning lines for races 4-9 until the board recycles.
The bottom line being that the NYRA invested all this money in odds boards that don\'t always show the odds for the race they are accepting wagers on.
But these new totes can be even more annoying. Let\'s say you\'re writing down the odds for the fifth race which in the race 1-6 cycle are in the fifth column. Well, half way through the positioning of the fifth race odds will be transposed to the second column because the odds cycle has switched to races 4-9.
Now you would think that these boards could be programmed so that the odds for the current race are always on the board in one column.
You would think that somebody at the NYRA would care that their prized odds boards aren\'t showing the odds for the current race.
But believe me they are completely oblivious over there. Barry Scwartz deserves his credit for getting the takeout reduced. He deserves a lot of credit for that. But as far as taking care of the every day amenities for the fan, he\'s been completely useless in my book.
With increased simulcasting, more otb\'s and an expanded exotics wagering menu I can\'t believe NYRA\'s handle can possibly be 1/3 of what it once was, even adjusting for inflation. Maybe on-track handle is 1/3 of what it was 30 years ago, that I\'d believe. There was no on-line wagering that\'s for sure. Don\'t remember if NYRA or the regional OTB\'s offered phone account wagering 30 years ago-my guess is that if it existed it was in it\'s infancy back then. Also, regional OTB locations were still not to be found in as many neighborhoods as today. So if you wanted to legally wager on horses you\'d have to go to the track, but overall handle from all sources being just 1/3 of what it was 30 years ago?
I\'m only hoping the bill introduced into the NY state legislature to increase takeout will not get far.
Anyone know what the status of the bill is right now?
Upper Nile.
I\'m with you on the handle statistic.
Tell me how much is wagered On-Track, at OTB, on Phone accounts and then tell me how much of that is going towards NY Racing and/or Racing at other venues with Simulcasting. I will be able to give you reliable numerics.
The game has changed and so has the Player and potential Players.
Nowdays it is more about hit and run type action. Nobody has time anymore to take a 1 hour train ride and spend five hours at the track then take another 1 hour train ride back.
Churchill figures a massive facelift will bring people back to the Track. It will but then what happens in three years after everyone has seen it???
I wrote that \"I\'ve read that handle in NY is, after adjusting for inflation, about 1/3 of what it was thirty years ago,...\" - to clarify, I didn\'t mean NYRA handle specifically is 1/3 of what it was, even though my post was all about NYRA. Given that harness racing was still pulling in real money thirty years ago, I\'m sure the decline there is a big part of the overall number. Still, given the \"hit and run\" betting described above, the huge decline in on-track attendance over the past 30-40 years, and the fact that NYers now bet more on out-of-state racing than on NYRA product, I\'m sure their handle figures are a pittance of what they were 30 years ago.
As far as the takeout bill, I haven\'t seen a thing about it in the papers; a search on the state legislature website just says that the bill is \"referred to racing, gaming & wagering\" as of 3/10/04. There\'s nothing doin\' with the state budget at this point, so it\'ll probably be awhile before we find out what happens with the Larkin bill.
Having not been to Ney York City for many years I have not had a chance to see first-hand the state of affairs at any of the NYRA tracks. However, a good friend of mine on the East coast visited New York this past winter and sent me the e-mail that is copied below which descibes the conditions at Aqueduct....
\"speaking of the Big A, the A stands for appaling, atrocious, you name it. I went there for the first time in years on Saturday. The place has really gone downhill. A good portion of it is closed off as that is where they want to put slots. It is like maze with most of the stairways closed. To get to the seats was a nightmare. In the clubhouse, up 3 flights of stairs, back out to the grandstand, through 3 different lounges, and finally a seat. All of them covered with birdsh!@#$t. This was my girlfriends first trip to a race track. I guess I did not paint an ugly enough picture as she did not think it was that bad. Wait until she see\'s Saratoga. Anyway, Big A needs to go. NYRA should build a winter track inside of the inner turf at Belmont which is a mile and 3/16th\'s so fitting a one mile track there should not be a problem. For all of NYRA\'s money troubles, the land that Big A occupies must be worth many millions. The place borders JFK Airport so it is prime commercial real estate. We stand in line to get a soda, the guy behind the counter is some drunk, he is beet red and shaking like a leaf. I felt bad for the guy in a way. A really sad place, you can see at one time it must have really been something. Out back on the porch, you get a nice view of the Manhatten skyline. A couple of regulars made me laugh as they were counting the days to Belmont so the could \"get away from this f-cking dump\". If it is nice I will go down to Belmont for opening day. I doubt I will be going back to the Big A anytime soon\".......
Pretty darned pathetic if you ask me.
I guess we\'re getting a bit off topic but it seems to me the only magical places left to see the races are Saratoga and Delmar. I went to Santa Anita on a weekday 2 years ago and was stunned at the depressing atmosphere. It used to be the kind of place that would make you move West. Simulcasting has been a money-maker (I guess), but the tracks bye and large are no longer the same.
A friend visiting Chicago called me on a cell phone to tell me Arlington was a paradise, but he once said the same thing about Stockton (Ca.) OTB.
i would agree with him on arlington. my favorite \"modern\" track. i never saw the attraction to delmar. saratoga is in a league of its own. however, there are many small tracks in the country that are very nice.
my uderstanding is that winter racing at belmont is impossible because of the angle at which it was built blocks sunlight for much of the day and would at times freeze surface.Don\'t know if that is true...just what i have heard. I think Belmont is a beautiful track but due to location there is just a lot of other things to do in warmer weather(i.e. boating, beaches, baseball games)I don\'t see them drawing except on big days.
Arlington is a very nice facility. Its newish, its clean , its well maintained. The restrooms are clean. Theres plenty of concession stands. (The prices are way too high, but thats par for the course). It\'s a very nice facility. But you know what? When I\'m there, I don\'t feel any magic. Dr. Fager didn\'t run on that track. Neither did Buckpasser or Secretariat. As pleasing to the eye as it is, you never feel the ghosts of the great ones and you know you\'re grandfather didn\'t walk those grounds.
Chuckles,my memory is that Dr.Fager won at Arlington at ages 3 and 4.Mile record in 1:32.20 at age 4 in \'68.First great horse I remember seeing in person,my dad took me to Rockingham Park in \'67 or \'68 to see him.Enjoy your posts.
Hooper
New York racing was put in a hole when they established OTB as a seperate entity. I go to Saratoga every summer, and I am still stunned by the crazy simulcast rules that limit access to other venues, etc...If NYRA, CD, or Magna run racing, it won\'t matter!
BTW, it is my understanding that the port authority owns the land on which Aqueduct sits, and they are supposed to vacate at some point in the future so that Kennedy can expand. I vote for NO winter racing, run at Belmont, then Saratoga, but keep it open from august to november. It is the best place on the planet to watch a race.
I visited Belmont during their fall meet recently and while it wasn\'t that cold outside it was extremely cold inside Belmont due to the wind and lack of heat. We went into the clubhouse and while it was a little warmer it was still cold. I just think that Belmont isn\'t built for the cold weather and that\'s one of the reasons why it isn\'t open.