It would be easy to say there's "another whiner complaining about the rake" in horse racing. Ho hum.
But it's not from a racing customer. It's from a sports bettor that we in racing wish we had betting our game.
Steve Fezzik is a long time, well respected gambler. Unlike many sports bettors who handicap to make their betting decisions, Steve focuses on line shopping. Takeout is everything to people like him, and it's clear from his tweet that he doesn't think much about horse racing. Whatever your views are about takeout, I think we can all agree that having a sports bettor who bets tens of thousands a day "LOL" because our game is akin to Keno is not a positive position for our sport.
Sports bettors and poker players - an estimated $500B betting market - should have a home in horse racing. It's up to racing, not them, to make it so.
For background about how sports bettors see and view betting on horse racing, please see this article.
3 comments:
I quit wagering on racing in 2000 after the pic-6 insider scandal. After 28 years I was finished. Now you get these announcements of some individual track lowering take from 26% to 24% on one type wager or to 16% on w/p/s. What a joke. Racing thinks all players are stupid. Those still wagering are.
I am 59 years old now. I do not even watch the big races any more. If the w/p/s take hits 10% after breakage, odds do NOT change after the race ends and/or we get to wager real time on Betfair then I might take one more look. NONE of this will happen of course in my lifetime. Greedy politicians, owners and trainers will let it die first. Cheating and theft are the keywords when one thinks of this game. Poker and sports betting will continue to grow. I do think all of the welfare for racing will soon be gone along with 70% of the tracks living on it.
Hey Old School-great to see you're still reading the Blogs! Tough to get out of your blood I imagine :). We do have Betfair in Canada and it is awesome when there is liquidity.
Never say never..people like those involved in HANA will keep fighting to make the game palatable. Thanks for commenting.
I just started playng the horses this year at emerald downs. Really love going to the races, but I think im done betting. 20$ & a racing form up against robotic wagering programs, crazy odds swings after the start, twenty percent plus takeouts, wtf?
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