Thursday, July 17, 2008

Can Rising Boats Lift All Tides?

You read that correctly.

Wagering is in the news with the announcement that, for the first time at a New York track, rolling doubles will be offered when Saratoga opens its season next Wednesday. Unlike some other wagers that could have been offered, this one is a good deal for the fans.

The Pick 3, after all, is more of a trap than it appears, looking easier than it actually is. Pick 4s add a layer of difficulty, of course, but are more desirable because payoffs increase exponentially from the Pick 3. And $1 part-wheel units are available, unlike the Pick 6.

The Pick 6 is a different animal altogether, offering the potential for a life-changing score or, at minimum, a fill-up at the local gas station. But the Pick 6 is extremely difficult to win and is beyond the bankroll capabilities of most horseplayers. But they are a great temptation, even for the average bettor, because of the carryover provision.

Any time a wager offers winners more money than is taken in, players are afforded real value.

Rolling doubles are attractive because they don’t tie up money beyond two races, good for both track and player, a rare double, indeed. As opposed to parlays, parimutuel takeout on doubles is extracted once. Having the luxury of starting the wager anywhere on the card is another bonus.

Parenthetically, the posting of odds, probable payoffs, and results, is something most tracks leave to their closed-circuit television departments. In the main, the techs responsible for those duties often are starting their television careers, rarely have an understanding of wagering, and the minimum-wage pay scale rarely inspires creativity and attention to detail.

So it would be good if NYRA executives, between congratulatory pats on the back for Saratoga’s success, occasionally look at monitors to see what track and simulcast customers are seeing, to insure that complete information is presented in a timely manner: This includes leaving multiple-pool probable payoffs like doubles on screen long enough to allow players to scribble the information into their programs.

I worry about these things because someone has to, and because I’m not quite convinced that the people in charge look at what goes out over their air. And with the new graphics packages, don’t be standing too far away from a monitor if you expect to see anything. From any reasonable distance, it’s all a gray blur.

Rolling doubles then are a welcome addition. But I noticed that only one superfecta-- racing’s fastest growing popular wager because of fractional betting--will be offered on the last race of the day. Why? Is it some kind of trade-off with the State Racing and Wagering Board, who needs to grant permission, or is the track just being greedy?

Ever notice that on mega race days tracks eliminate Dime superfectas and revert to a $1 minimum? They think it forces players to bet more money on the best races when, in fact, many bettors just pass entirely. And, at Saratoga, every day is like Derby day.

Actually, tracks are not that much different philosophically from big bettors. You always hear Pick 6 whales lobbying to keep the bet a $2 wager. By lowering that minimum, they argue it allows too much square money into the pool, theoretically increasing the possible number of winners while decreasing carryover potential, something both the tracks and players covet.

Last Sunday at Belmont Park, the Poker Stakes featuring this country’s top grass miler, Kip Deville, was run as the fourth race, keeping it out of the Pick 6 sequence. The short-sightedness involved, as was illustrated by Steven Crist last weekend, is that players might be more inclined to play if they view the wager as a virtual “Pick 5.”

When a sequence becomes too difficult, even Pick 6 whales have been known to back off, putting in small “sanity tickets” just in case. I mention this because the new “Sixty Minute Six” has produced two carryovers in its first four weeks, despite allowing for $1 part-wheels. The winning payoffs were $3,700 in Week 3, which followed a whopping $320,000 carryover-infused payoff in Week 2.

The NYRA and other New York tracks have always grown their betting menus willy-nilly because the state-appointed members of the SRWB act as if they believe it’s their obligation to save bettors from themselves. Shouldn’t adult horseplayers be allowed to decide the pools into which they want to jump?

ED. NOTE:

John…

Saw your blog about the supers. We will be offering at least three a day (as long as we get enough fields of eight –no entry or field)…and maybe more.



Think the confusion is in the info we included in the back of our press kit which produced by another department where super is listed as last race only—because that’s the only place it’s sure to be. The other two currently allowed could show up anywhere on the card.



We are seeking approval to increase the number of supers to have them anytime we have a race of where 8 betting interests leave the paddock (no entry of field)



Sorry for the confusion.



JOHN LEE

Director of Communications and Media Relations

New York Racing Association

PO Box 90

Jamaica, NY 11417