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Thursday, December 1, 2011

The Tampa Model

There is a fair discussion going on over at the Paulick Report regarding Tampa Bay Downs. Peter Berube was interviewed and shares some of his thoughts regarding this meet, and Tampa's business model.

As you most know, Tampa opens their next meet with a 3% cut to WPS takeout (from 17.5% to 17%) and a new 15% pick 5, replacing the high rake, little played pick 6. Both, HANA feels, are good moves.

We have heard rumors that they have increased their signal fee this year by a fair amount. It is something in the past we warned might prohibit their growth. We'll do more digging on that.

When you analyze the good things Tampa is doing - field size, on track display (Trakus), good customer service and lower takeout (we explored Tampa Bay Downs in a feature article here), it will be very interesting to see what wins the race for the 2012 meet: The rise in handle from those good things, or the loss in handle caused by the signal fee hike.

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