SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY, February 19, 2010--Received a private e mail the other day from loyal HRI contributor Dennis Dotson with a subject line so brilliant that I decided to give the issue an airing, for about the thousandth time.

The issue is the always regressive, counter-productive tax on horseplayers, parimutuel takeout, which is draining any remaining liquidity from the betting pools.

Want to stop those late-odds flashes, or at least slow them down? How about a pool the size of which cannot be adversely affected by a handful of large wagers?

Dotson’s introductory subject line was, in fact, so crystal clear at assessing this issue that you read it in the headline that introduced this piece. The only answer, indeed.

For his part, Dotson is fighting his own battle, one that has made him the bane of every New York Racing Association executive he has written to last year and this.

What Dotson wants to know, and what he feels is his privilege as a valued customer, is whatever happened to the “Survivor” contest, and why can’t he get a reasonable explanation as to why it was discontinued?

He might have received an answer had he refrained from his liberal use of colorful phrases. Frustration, it seems, saps patience from us all.

So, as he stated in his letter: “The Survivor contest attracted thousands of handicapping players from all over the world….

“[Fans] played the contest and many played the daily cards through their local and/or ADW venues. These are thousands that do not live in the state of New York….

“I have written this same e mail six times without one reply….

“The fact that yours was $10 per entry (unlimited entries) and the prize pool climbed upwards of $50,000 at nearly every NYRA track should be screaming volumes at you to bring it back…”

Dotson went on to list a number of tracks that offer this type of on-line contest for free, namely Santa Anita’s, which recently added “Winvivor” to complement its “Showvivor” contest already in place.

Of course, the prize pool at Santa Anita, Youbet.com, and other venues is much smaller--$2,500 was the common amount--than the one offered in the NYRA’s pay-to-play contest.

Digressing, and speaking of “fat chance” issues, is the hope that state legislators from Anywhere, U.S.A. will learn something about the laws of supply and demand that eventually put all those that ignore this axiom out of business.

Or, as Dotson reflected, quoting Einstein: "We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

Which brings us to a bill recently introduced by Kentucky House Speaker Pro-Tem Larry Clark that would tax bets made by Kentuckians through account wagering companies such as Churchill Downs Inc.’s TwinSpires.com.

This genius believes that a 0.5 percent tax on advance deposit wagers made by Kentucky residents would generate as much as $400,000 a year.

Really? That much?

Clark envisions that the 400K would be split three ways among the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, whichever track is operational at the time, with the balance going toward that track’s purses.

Would someone please inform Clark that this amount buys the tracks about two really good allowances races--after first explaining what an allowance race is.

So I guess this means that the 400K would be collected about three times a year so that Churchill Downs, Turfway and Ellis Park could share the largesse. The alternative would be to let them fight among themselves for these table scraps.

But the best part of Clark’s reasoning as to why this kind of commerce should be taxed? “I think it’s something we need to do,” he said. “It’s the fastest growing betting we have now ... and we need to capture some of that revenue (to) put back into purses.”

The bill apparently is a compromise of the one Clark proposed last year that died in committee, calling for a 3.5 percent tax. The current tax rate would be similar to ones imposed by Illinois and Virginia on account wagering.

My question is why the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission needs a third of this projected $400,000. Could it be to pay for commissioners’ salaries?

A few years ago, something like that quietly occurred in New York when a portion of the parimutuel takeout was redirected by law to pay for Racing and Wagering Board operations. America in action: Create a regulatory agency then eventually allow horseplayers to pay for it.

I say go for it, Mr. Clark. Nip this growth thing in the bud. Kill any forward momentum online wagering has and the hope of salvation it provides. Kill it because the Internet is the only avenue for growth left, at least until the current model is scrapped. Fat chance of that, too.

So, as Dotson suggests from his research: “Have a little faith; let God go first.” Or this:

“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it, and a moral code that glorifies it.”