Racing Reinvented

[Fairmount1]

As Racing continues to decline in many ways, especially as a gambling game, it needs to reinvent itself completely.  Racing needs to overhaul what they are doing to keep their customers and to attract new ones.  No one disagrees with this I would say.  Here\'s some starting points to turn things around. If others want to improve or have better ideas, I\'m all for it.  But why won\'t racing do these things?  They think their approach leads to far more money I guess but I don\'t believe it.  

1.  Close the pools at 2 minutes to post.  Tell me the problem with this.  As I said in a prior post, if a horse breaks through the gate but still runs, they become a Scr for gambling purposes and run for Purse Only.  Alternates can be assigned for horizontals for late scratches.  

2.  Raise the minimums.  $1 or $2 Pick 6.  $1 Pick 5.  $2 Pick 4.  $3 Pick 3.  $10 DD.  $20 Win Bets.  $10 Exactas.  $2 Trifectas.  $1 supers.  

3.  Make separate parimutuel pools between on track folks and online/off site bettors.  It happened for Derby when Simulcast was in its infancy to have separate pools.  If the on track dollar is the most valuable, why not do all you can to attract people to the track.  Imagine wagering with No competition with the CAW\'s in the on track pool and only the folks standing next to you like the old days.  Tell me more people wouldn\'t go to the track to wager.    

4.  Lower the takeout to a flat rate.  I\'ll let others argue how low but it needs to be far lower.  And again, how about a lower takeout for on track patrons vs online gamblers.  The disrespect for the most valuable customer percent wise is unbelievable.  Can\'t you do something for them?  

5.  A new tote system.  Go back and listen to the Mike Maloney Bet with the Best Podcast where he talks at length about the tote system.  The examples he gave are enough to say do this NOW.  

These might be a Start.

[albatross]

I think you have a lot of great points.I think it would be hard to raise the minimums unless you had a separate on track pool for current wager size.You want young and new people. But for online bettors, the higher minimums could  make it harder for the algos covering. I don’t know if a higher minimum alter their models, but maybe. As far as two minutes, that would ridiculously get pushback, especially if there are wagers going in late. Maybe just closing the betting before the gates could open. Now, we use the opposite. It seems the lock on the betting is the problem, not the gate.

I have a question for track management. I’ve noticed over the last few years with all the multi day bets they’ve poisoned the bettors with, there’s data that can be seen but isn’t. Not every race, but I noticed over the Belmont weekend there were races later in the card where you could see the pools and probables. It would certainly be valuable when putting a multi wager together which FTS is getting played. I have seen it for sure in the Futures Bets also. And the exacta probables were shown. If this is the case, why can’t the pools and odds be shown using your phone or tablet? One of players gripes is CAWs getting better looks than retail. Show retail the data, it would cost the tracks nothing and the player feels he got something. As a cynic, you think the CAWs won’t play like that, so the tracks will oblige them.But if it’s possible, and it is, why keep it a secret.

Off point on your good ideas, but been curious on the advance betting pools.