Friday, September 17, 2010
News Flash: Reduced Takeout = Handle Growth
ELMONT, NY, September 17, 2010--The work of the Horseplayers Association of North America apparently is beginning to gain traction.
For the uninitiated, H.A.N.A. is a grass roots, non-profit organization made up of a consortium of horseplayers, possibly the most abused customers of any kind on the planet.
The reason H.A.N.A. exists is to unite horseplayers into a large enough group so that they might speak with one voice to affect positive change.
Horseplayers--without whom there wold be no parimutuel racing- would at least like to be included in any conversations between the track management and horsemen's groups, he players that decide their fate.
Not necessarily included directly--although that would be welcome--but at least in spirit so their concerns will be considered.
The industry is learning the hard way that building it doesn’t necessarily mean that they will come.
Signal wars that leave customers without a means of wagering on their preferred tracks or exclusive Advance Deposit Wagering deals which, in effect, do the same thing are just a few of the major issues.
Odds updates in real time, which speak loudest to pool integrity, complete the trifecta. No more blackouts. No more betting blindly.
Because of decline handle, it’s gotten so that New York and California tracks are the only circuits with handle large enough to give players a chance of receiving the last-minute odds upon which they base their decisions.
Horseplayers get it when 8-5 shots go down to 7-5 or 6-5 in the final minute, but not horses that go from 3-1 to 9-5 after the bell.
Horseplayers want cheating horsemen punished meaningfully, not just wrist slapped or merely inconvenienced when a horseman is forced to resort to training by phone, giving instructions to assistants.
But what they want most is concern for their capital. It’s as if tracks don’t realize that it’s in their best interests that players remain liquid. Tracks act like they want all the handle today and to hell with tomorrow.
There’s no reason with today’s technology (a familiar refrain?) that bets cannot be processed in real time. It costs money to do so? Do we not spend money to make money? And it doesn’t end there.
There’s no reason, especially given the proliferation of account wagering, for breakage to exist. Give the players the pennies on the dollar; they’re not proud. It’s not inconvenient; betting lines aren’t as long as they used to be.
I’ve collected Dime Supers that paid $49.17. My only problem is that it didn’t pay $249.17.
Aside from the attractiveness of the wagering product; large competitive fields, the big issue is cost. Not only is it too high when compared to other forms of gaming, it’s too high when measured against itself.
In a perfect world, takeout in every pool at every track would be 10 percent, lower if do-able. And if it were any lower than that, see how many big-time hedge fund managers would trade in their Wall Street Journals for a racing form.
What’s a horse race if not an individual marketplace?
With H.A.N.A.’s assist, horseplayers and racetrack management at Tioga Park struck a blow for sanity, for horseplayers in general and their own bottom line.
At Tioga Downs harness track, management decided to lower takeout rates to New York State minimums for their meet which ended last weekend.
The result was that on-track handle increased 4.1 percent and by 8.7 percent via simulcasts. These figures are not insignificant, especially in the current economic climate.
The Tioga experiment was a triumph for the players, the track, and the state, and it showed what can happen when horseplayers unite in a common cause. H.A.N.A. has been around for three years, hopefully for much longer.
It’s all about the handle, stupid. Handle drives the game.
And handle is all about churn. All anyone needs to realize about the higher payoffs is the more bettors win during one wagering session, the more they bet in return.
Written by John Pricci
