According to the Bloodhorse, Hialeah for their quarterhorse meet will go 12% takeout, across the board.For the players of that sport, you have a pretty clear choice: Los Alamitos who raised their takeout this year to about 22% blended, or Hialeah at an almost 50% discount.
This is in sharp contrast to 17 years ago where we looked at old time racing, being, well, old time racing in a story on HANAblog. Bill Finely was analyzing the Hialeah thoroughbred takeout situation at that time.
From 1993.
"Only this year will be different. Hialeah owner John Brunetti will do the unimaginable; he will make Hialeah the worst place on earth to play horses. Hialeah opens April 1, April Fools' Day for South Florida bettors. Brunetti plans to institute what is believed to be the highest takeout structure in the history of U.S. thoroughbred racing. The take on win, place and show bets will be 23.1 percent and there will be a 28 percent take on all other wagers. Winning money -- never easy at the track -- will be impossible at Hialeah."
17 years......
Moving from "the worst place on earth to play the horses" to "the best place on earth to play the horses"
We are witnessing a full circle development in the state of this game. Losing over 50% of your yearly handle and half your customers tends to do that.
2 comments:
That's great for Hialeah and long overdue for any racetrack do this.
While this is a quarterhorse meet, I still look forward to a major throughbred racetrack doing the same as Hialeah is doing.
While Hialeah is in the rebuilding phase of their wagering pools and clientele, an established racetrack like Tampa Bay or Monmouth Park which can offer this type of pricing for an extended season figures to reap major rewards.
It is important that all the simulcast locations take the Hialeah signal and set the stage for other tracks to follow.
Hialeah's new take is a real win for players and fans. Like Monmouth Park's 3-day, million dollar per day purse experiement we will know after the nmeet and all the data are in what impact this bold move has had. Lets hope a positive one.
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