Article in the New York Times today about an exercise rider at Santa Anita agitating for a raise from $10 to $15 per ride for warming up horses in the morning. The security guards broke up the meeting of exercise riders and banned this guy Sotelo from the grounds. They have not gotten a raise in 15 years. Yeesh. HO
this is all going to explode in the tracks face. They are going to face multiple attacks from the Jockey Guild(which I believe is unwarranted) and now labor unions. Guess who is going to end up paying for all this? You got it, the bettors. The takeout will go up instead of coming down. More people will us offshore sites, or betting exchanges, the takeout will then go up again, more people will use offshore sites and betting exchanges, the takeout.....
If the money can really get to the backstretch folks (and not a bunch of new government bureaucrats, another 1% takeout would be the best part of the deal.
CtC
Chuckles,
You touch upon a few interesting points.
Because putting on a day of races is a very expensive proposition the takeout can never compete with casinos.
So it\'s not the high takeout that bothers me as a player, but the fact that I don\'t think I\'m getting my money\'s worth.
To that end, I would like to see the takeouts at tracks specifically targeted to specific expenditures.
And part of that targeting would be to the upkeep of the backstretch community. The truth of the matter is that many of these employees are foced to live in third world conditions, and I certainly wouldn\'t mind seeing one percent of the takeout I pay to the NYRA devoted to improving the lot of these folks.
But I don\'t think the takeout would need to be raised, just better allocated. And that\'s what a \"targeted\" takeout would do, provide a more transparent look into where the money is going.
And if at some point down the line the NYRA could prove to me that they needed an extra percentage point for a specific program (like to insure the jockey\'s against injuries, or to put new housing up for the grooms, or to put new plasma tv\'s throughout the track plant) I can accept an increase as the cost of maintaining a first class operation.
But long before we got to the point that the on-track players had to fork over a higher takout, I think the numbers would make the case that track operators are selling their simulcast product for way below real cost, unsustainably below real cost.
well put Hoarse. I didnt mean to imply takeouts should be raised at a whim. I think theres enough already to go around. Let me see 1% going to the nose to the grindstone guys is what I was supporting too.
Post Edited (12-15-04 21:45)
Personally I think the solution to the problem is to close dozens of smaller tracks around the country and prepare for the age of the internet and online gaming.
We only need a handful of tracks around the country. They should all be located in the major markets and active only when live attendence has at least some hope of making the venture make economic sense vs. other potential uses for the property.
For example: NY should have Belmont and Saratoga and no winter racing. Aqueduct\'s property should be sold. The place and the racing is a horror show. There are at least a million better economic uses for that property.
Only a handful of tracks around the country should be operating at any given time.
Eventually the quality of video via internet and betting online will be so high that anyone that is just into the gambling aspect of horseracing and not the \"day out\" aspect will have no reason to go to the track. Hell, I don\'t have a reason now.
The only stumbling block is dividing up the pie, but I\'m sure that could be worked out over time.
IMO, this would make the industry so profitable the take could be lowered, the facilities improved, and the jocks and workers taken care of properly.