Some talk on other boards about a \'boycott\' of the scandalous takeout hike.
The op on one of the boards, who thinks he knows everything, insists that only the whales have any clout. Sorry, I have news for him.
Without the meat and potatoes player, the whales have NOTHING. Who are they going to skim from? If enough \'minnows\' actually stopped playing at a track ,the whales would be forced to cut back or abandon altogether. Or maybe they would enjoy a pool consisting of 50% or more INSIDER money. I don\'t think so.
CD could be forced to reverse the move posthaste, but I\'m not betting on horseplayers doing the right thing.
Boycott Churchill and see if they care. They could care a less what happens after their Derby Week jackpot!!
Why do you think they have those 3 or 4 night racing dates?? That will offset anything they were to lose the rest of the meet. You should see the beer sales at $8 a pop on those nights. Last spring/summer meet they literally ran out of beer and allot of the food items before the 8th race, it\'s a party with mostly a younger crowd. Go online and check out how if you want a seat in the Clubhouse you have to pay $20 for lower level seat and $30 for 3rd floor seats. lol Those lower level seats are free during the regular meet days and 3rd floor are like $5 each but not when they have night racing. Not to mention if you like a seat inside upstairs with a table and a buffet meal... try $60-70 bucks a person! Oh but don\'t worry that comes with a FREE program. lol
Bottom line round up all the gamblers you want, Churchill could care a less. They have always treated their patrons like crap and that is never going to change. I don\'t blame anyone for not wagering there but it is a waste of time and energy investing in more then one minute thinking about it. Takeout high just go somewhere else and don\'t give it another thought... cause after all Churchill Downs Inc. isn\'t gong to.
CDI has morphed into a \"casino\" type gambling business, the racing side of CDI\'s business is now of secondary importance. In some States they have race tracks because without them, they can\'t get \"casino\" type licenses.If they no longer need live racing to maintain their casino\'s they will close/sell the tracks( See Hollywood Park and impending sale of Calder if they can work a deal)
CDI will be out of the racing business within 5 years except possibly for their world famous Kentucky Derby brand.CDI\'s stock continues to be strong and has doubled in the last 5 years.
CDI could give a rats ass about the furor of gamblers re the increased takeout.
And I could give a rat\'s ass whether my wagering dollar has any impact on their business decisions. They\'re just not going to get a nickel of it, other than next Friday and Saturday, because their product\'s not good enough to warrant the extra vig.
Moose,
Many gamblers I know will play on oaks/derby day and not thereafter.Will be interesting to see how CD meet plays out handle wise.
Mike
Churchill runs nothing but cheap claiming races anyway! I have no problem not playing their..
miff Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Moose,
>
> Many gamblers I know will play on oaks/derby day
> and not thereafter.Will be interesting to see how
> CD meet plays out handle wise.
>
> Mike
Miff, I don\'t know the business, but it strikes me as penny-wise, pound foolish to do something like this, or raise the price of admission to Saratoga. I\'d love to see the rationale from the numbers\' wonks, and any historical data that suggests this is a good move in the face of the declining popularity of the sport in general. I know NY OTB has survived for years in spite of whacking bettors for an extra 6%, but the only major nut they have to worry about covering is the expense account for their management team. The big bettors are looking to squeeze every nickel they can out of rebates, or micro-managing pools, so why should they give up percentage points to a track that puts out a fair-to-middling product? This is the mixed blessing of the whole slots morphing into horse racing scenario. It keeps the sport afloat, but once they\'re in, they just as soon forget about it.
Laurel Park dropped the takeout to 11% back in 2007.
Article by Andrew Beyer-Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/08/AR2007080802114.html
Moose,
The large rebate players will be adversely affected only if the betting pools become illiquid from handle decline.Rebate would probably remain the same assuming their rebate house adjusts for their hold.
Must be some economics guys here to answer, but generally price increases in a declining market usually goes over like a lead balloon.
Mike
miff Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> CDI has morphed into a \"casino\" type gambling
> business, the racing side of CDI\'s business is now
> of secondary importance. In some States they have
> race tracks because without them, they can\'t get
> \"casino\" type licenses.If they no longer need live
> racing to maintain their casino\'s they will
> close/sell the tracks( See Hollywood Park and
> impending sale of Calder if they can work a deal)
>
> CDI will be out of the racing business within 5
> years except possibly for their world famous
> Kentucky Derby brand.CDI\'s stock continues to be
> strong and has doubled in the last 5 years.
>
> CDI could give a rats ass about the furor of
> gamblers re the increased takeout.
Yep, they are becoming an entertainment business, not a gambling one. Look for their racing days/meets to get shorter and, as another poster eluded to, more night racing and events that are driven by attendance/concessions more so than handle. Other than NYRA, and a few smaller tracks, weekday racing will become a thing of the past.
Churchill having all kinds of problems now in Louisiana, where state
politicians this week refused to renew CD\'s 10 year license to operate Fair
Grounds until CD comes up with a viable business plan which involves
reinvesting casino profits into the FG racing facility.
This is being reported in tbe NO newspapers and picked up by the Paulick
Report (and I would imagine the Shermanick report over by the Rag Board).
No word from DRF, where they seem to have replaced investigative reporter
Matt Hegarty with a Contest/Tournament correspondent.
Back to CD, which is being called a corporate carpetbagger, taking all of
their Louisiana casino profits out of state, dumping lots of money into
Churchill Downs and neglecting the Fair Grounds. It seems as if a CD higher
up, not a racing guy, was sent to the hearing, and apparently was (a) not too
familiar with racing and (b) not very well prepared; the Louisiana pols tore
him a new one. Worth reading over at NOLA.com.
Louisiana loves its racing; horses of all kinds part of the state\'s heritage,
and the sale to CD at one time looked very good -- on paper -- for New
Orleans and its racetrack.
Hegarty has a piece on the CD/FG stuff in Saturday\'s DRF.
The only good thing I will say about Churchill as a gambler is while yes I agree their racing has been watered down a bit over the years throughout the meet with more claiming races is at least it is two things.
A) A fair playing racetrack on any given day.
B) You don\'t have to worry about Pletcher entering 5 out of 9 races every freaking day like at the NY tracks. Is there anything worse then seeing blink after blink on the tote board only to find its Pletcher and one of his world beaters?? lol
I agree with another poster it is a matter of time before they race on weekend nights Friday/Saturday, run 12 races on those nights and do a Sunday afternoon card. I def could see a day in the near future where we will be watching the KY Derby on prime time say 9-9:30 hour on NBC. Once the greed sets in there is no stopping it and we are seeing that. Can you imagine the traffic when people are full of Juleps and leave the track about 10:30 pm after Derby!! lol
well I m pretty sure they leave now full of juleps around 700..I know I have
My favorite quote on this comes from Horseraceinsider.com:
In spite of having more than 600 slot machines at the track, the turf course has been unusable more often than not the past two seasons due to poor drainage. The infield video screen broke and wasn't repaired. Rep. Helene Moreno, according to NOLA.com, the digital component of the New Orleans Times Picayune, toured the barn area and was critical of the sub-standard conditions. One stall had an eight-inch dip in the middle.
The responses of Austin Miller, CDI's senior vice president of gaming operations, are revealing of the company attitude. Miller said if the turf course isn't suitable for racing, horses and horsemen should adapt. "They all train on dirt. They should be able to run on dirt."
http://www.horseraceinsider.com/Ante-Post/comments/churchill-downs-and-cdi-are-two-different-worlds/#comments
7 pm is a sight as it is but can imagine when it\'s dark trying to find your car in someone\'s backyard loaded from all day at Derby. I was at the last BC and it was a mess leaving after Drosselmeyer won the classic. Leaving in the dark is a real nightmare with 140,000 loaded fans I am sure.
CHDN ceo talking his book. Too bad the Bloomberg guy wasn\'t clued in enough to ask about the takeout hike
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/why-kentucky-derby-isn-t-enough-for-churchill-downs-bm_2o1~cQ0y~tX92~2e5WQ.html