Keeneland Again Tops Horseplayers Association of North America Racetrack Ratings

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(April 4, 2013, Charlottesville, VA): The Horseplayers Association of North America has released their annual Racetrack Ratings.  In 2013, for the fifth consecutive year, no track could displace Keeneland as the number one rated racetrack in North America.

“The rating algorithm indicates betting value, and at Keeneland this is exemplified perfectly,” said HANA President Jeff Platt. “With no takeout rate on any bet higher than 19%, a large field size of 9.45 horses per race, and a race office cognizant of carding interesting, bettable races for customers, Keeneland came out on top once again.”

“It’s an honor for Keeneland to be recognized by HANA for the fifth consecutive year as the nation’s No. 1 track for horseplayers,” said Keeneland President Bill Thomason.  “We are fortunate to have large, quality fields, and strive to offer a wide variety of wagering options and a reasonable takeout rate.  We remain committed to showcasing horse racing in a way that appeals to all horseplayers and appreciate HANA’s recognition of those efforts.”

Keeneland was followed by Churchill Downs, up from last year’s 4^th place rating, Gulfstream Park, which held steady at 3^rd, and Tampa Bay Downs, which moved down from 2^nd to 4^th.

Of the medium-sized tracks, or those with shorter meets, Kentucky Downs vaulted from 29^th to 5^th on the heels of their very successful 2012 boutique meet, where they reduced takeout precipitously and increased their pool size by 64.8%. Sam Houston had another strong year, and was again highly ranked.

Perennial horseplayer and fan favorite Saratoga continued their strong showing in the rankings with a slight increase in field size from 2012.

The HANA Racetrack Ratings are based on an algorithm designed by HANA Board member Bill Weaver, a retired engineer. Using studies and empirical data which are directly correlated to horseplayer value and handle growth, key factors including takeout rate, field size, wager variety, pool size and signal distribution are weighted. A composite score is then tabulated, and the 67 racetracks are ranked.
 
The sortable rankings sheet, with takeout data, pool size and track information, as well as the new sortable payouts sheet, will be uploaded on the HANA website next week.

2013 HANA Racetrack Ratings

Keeneland

Churchill Downs

Gulfstream

Tampa Bay Downs

Kentucky Downs

Sam Houston

Oaklawn

Hawthorne

Saratoga

Retama

Belmont

Arlington

Ellis Park

Turfway

Santa Anita

Indiana

Aqueduct

Del Mar

Delta Downs

Monmouth

Atlantic City

CharlesTown

Hollywood

Evangeline

Lone Star

Sunland

Canterbury

Hastings

Pimlico

Louisiana Downs

Fairgrounds

Laurel

Colonial Downs

Prairie Meadows

Will Rogers Downs

Delaware

Fonner Park

Hoosier

Remington QH/Mixed

Beulah

Woodbine

Remington

Presque Isle

Golden Gate

Calder

Penn National

Mountaineer

Fairplex

Fairmont Park

Finger Lakes

Turf Paradise

Portland Meadows

SunRay Park

Philadelphia

Fair Meadows Tulsa

Northlands

Suffolk

Arapahoe

Thistledown

Zia Park

Ca. Racing Fairs

Emerald Downs

River Downs

Los Alamitos

Albuquerque

Fort Erie

Assinoibia Click image below to enlarge to see composite scores

The Horseplayers Association of North America is a grassroots group of horseplayers, not affiliated with any organization. HANA believes that both tracks and horseman groups have lost sight of the importance of the customer. HANA hopes, through proactive change on several key issues (including but not limited to), open signal access, lower effective takeouts, uniform and fair medication rules, wagering integrity, affordable data and customer appreciation, the industry’s handle losses can be reversed. HANA is currently made up of over 2,500 horseplayers (both harness and thoroughbred) from almost all states and Canadian provinces. We currently represent over $100,000,000 of yearly racing handle.

Our web address is http://www.horseplayersassociation.org and interested horseplayers can sign up there for free. We are horseplayers, just like you and we are trying to make a difference. We need, appreciate, and ask humbly for your support.

California Racing Update

The 14% takeout pick five came about as a result of the Players Boycott, which in turn was a reaction to SB 1072 and its ensuing takeout hike. (Real credit for the Pick5 belongs to Roger Way, R.I.P.) I know this because I was in the room when the decision was finally made to implement the pick five. Brian Boudreau, Vice Chairman of the TOC, told me “We are going to give one of your ideas a try. We are meeting with track management in about an hour and we are going to tell them we are in favor of implementing a 14% takeout pick five as a new bet.” He and I stood up, looked each other in the eye, and shook hands.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Last summer, I wrote about the 14% takeout pick five and a new handle trend at Del Mar. Here’s a cut and paste from that write up:

“Q. What single wager type is up the most?

A. That’s easy. It’s the 14% Takeout Pick 5 and it’s up 51.8% this year vs. last year.

Q. Is it possible that instead of cannibalizing handle, customer awareness about the 14% Takeout Pick 5 bet is generating overflow handle into the other pools and races for the races involving the pick 5 sequence?

A. Overall handle for races 1-5, the races in the 14% Takeout Pick 5 sequence is up an encouraging 10.2% this year vs. last year.

Overall handle on the races outside of the 14% Takeout Pick 5 sequence is up just 1.6%  (compared to a 10.2% overall handle increase for the races inside of the 14% Takeout Pick 5 sequence.)”

Link here:

http://blog.horseplayersassociation.org/2012/08/california-s-14-takeout-pick-5-del-mar.html

The 14% takeout pick five is now in its second year. I’m happy to report that the growth trend first seen last summer at Del Mar is continuing this year at Santa Anita.

For the calendar quarter just ended March 31, 2013 - the year over year handle numbers at Santa Anita tell the story.

Not only are Santa Anita's year over year handle numbers for the 14% takeout pick five up $5.35 million and 46.9 percent respectively - but, apparently, the low takeout bet is sparking handle growth in the pools of the other wagers on the wagering menu for the races in the pick five sequence.

With 1 fewer race day this year vs. last year – and looking strictly at the races in the Pick5 sequence - or races 1-5 only:

Dollar Change in Total Handle Q1 2013 vs. Q1 2012: …….. UP $16.45 million

Percentage Change in Total Handle Q1 2013 vs. Q1 2012:.. UP 10.14 percent

However, looking only at the races outside the Pick5 sequence:

Dollar Change in Total Handle Q1 2013 vs. Q1 2012: …….. UP $2.13 million

Percentage Change in Total Handle Q1 2013 vs. Q1 2012:.. UP 0.94 percent

This trend is remarkable because it runs counter to a big picture handle trend spanning the past 75 years or so. Historically, the later races on the card have always garnered more attention from bettors and out-handled the early races on the card because: 1.) Field size is bigger. 2.) The quality of stock is better. 3.) Attendance is higher – both on track and online. (Hey, some of us are procrastinators.)

The handle numbers for the races in the 14% takeout pick five sequence buck that big picture trend.

Here’s what I think is happening:

When I was in college I worked as a Liquor Department Manager for Walgreens. For those of you who may not be aware, Walgreens is a successful retailer. The first Walgreens store was opened in 1901. According to Wikipedia: Walgreens had 8,061 drugstores as of December 31, 2012.  Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walgreens

At the time that I worked there, the newspaper ad for all 26 Walgreens stores in our district came out every other Wednesday. Considerable planning was involved. As a department manager it was up to me to review the upcoming ads, order large enough quantities of the items scheduled to be on sale, and see to it that the merchandise did in fact arrive and was on hand in store in advance of each sale. The objective was to order enough of each item to see us through the sale without running out of stock – but not so much that we would be stuck with large quantities of inventory after the sale was over.

Walgreens had another objective: Customer goodwill. Not only was each store to have ample ad merchandise on hand – but ad merchandise was to be displayed in a manner so that the customer could easily find it.

Each department in the store had one primary sale item designated as that department’s feature item in the ad. As department manager, it was my job to make sure that my department’s feature item was prominently displayed on an end stand. Further, the end stand for the feature item was positioned so as to be immediately visible to the customer the moment he or she approached my department.

Come back with me to 1977. It’s a Wednesday in late March and our new ad just came out today.

The first thing you see when you walk into my department is a giant end stand where about 300 cases of Budweiser twelve packs are stacked like a pyramid. In front of the end stand is a sign. Taped to the sign is the actual headline clipped from the newspaper ad. It reads: $2.79 Budweiser Twelve Pack 12 oz. cans. If you look closely, at the bottom of the sign is smaller lettering that reads: Regular price $3.69. (No limit.)

Every day for the next two weeks I watch as literally every beer drinker within a 10 mile radius of the store walks into my department and does exactly the same thing. They walk in, hundreds of them, maybe thousands, one after another… They see the end stand, stop, read the sign, grab a shopping cart, and load it up with Budweiser twelve packs. Then, literally every one of them wanders the department and fills up the cart with other items that aren’t on sale… margarita mix, bottles of wine, a bag of ice, pretzels, chips, salsa, beef jerky, a jar of peanuts, a bottle of whiskey or vodka or gin or brandy for the more dedicated drinkers among them. Literally nobody – and I do mean no one – comes up to the register with a shopping cart that only has Budweiser twelve packs in it. As long as I have enough Budweiser twelve packs on hand so that we don’t run out of stock – every customer leaves the store happy. And when the next new ad comes out and something else goes on sale – most if not all of those same customers will come back – and leave the store happy all over again.

The company is happy because the customer is happy. Three words come to mind: Pure marketing genius.

Sadly, I see very little in the way of pure marketing genius going on behind the scenes these days when it comes to the decision making for California Racing.

However, the 14% takeout pick five does appear to have California Racing cashing in on the same psychological theme Walgreens has been cashing in on since 1901.

The numbers suggest that bettors are looking at races one through five and walking into the store because of the sale item. Some are even arriving at the register with more than just the sale item in their carts.

Jeff Platt

President, HANA

HANA Harness Announces the 2013 Grand Circuit Handicapping Challenge

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

FFI – Contact Allan Schott at allan@hanaweb.org

(March 29 2013) – The Horseplayers Association of North America’s (HANA) harness racing division in association with the Hambletonian Society, Chicago Harness (Balmoral and Maywood Parks), The Meadowlands, Tioga Downs, and Vernon Downs is pleased to announce “The 2013 Grand Circuit Handicapping Challenge”. 

The format of this year’s competition is a change from past Pen vs. Chip competitions as it doesn’t matter which type of handicapping method a handicapper uses as long as it is their own.  In addition, instead of handicapping complete race cards, the contest focuses only on Grand Circuit races.  Using the Grand Circuit schedule, excluding most elimination races, handicappers will be given $30 to wager as they will on race finals or in the case of races being contested in divisions, on one or more of the divisions.  Each gambler must invest the full $30 or they will be penalized.  The handicapper with the highest net profit after the last Grand Circuit race of the year will be the champion.  The contest begins and concludes at Northfield Park; beginning on April 26 with the Courageous Lady and concluding on December 14 with the Cleveland Classic and includes 74 contest dates and 230 individual races.  Rules and the Schedule of Races may be found at the contest website.

Another difference this year is the prize money, donations to standardbred rescues will not be winner takes-all.  The sponsorship funds will be donated to standardbred rescues designated by our top three handicappers in a 50-35-15% breakdown, thus allowing more rescues to benefit.  While additional sponsorship money may be forthcoming, $2,500 has already been pledged by our sponsors. 

“HANA Harness is pleased to be presenting 2013 Grand Circuit Handicapping Challenge this year.” said HANA President Jeff Platt, “We’ve decided to focus on the Grand Circuit races in an effort to support the revival of the Grand Circuit which features quality racing.  I would also like to thank all our sponsors for providing sponsorship money which will help support standardbred rescues that are doing great work on behalf of our retired equine athletes”.

 “We are pleased and excited that HANA has chosen to feature the retooled Grand Circuit as their contest races”, stated John Campbell,  Grand Circuit President, “Hopefully the fans will enjoy following along with the races and the contest.  We also want to thank the sponsors who allow this contest to support standardbred rescue”.

HANA would like to invite all harness horseplayers to the contest blog, which will analyze and discuss the upcoming races from a handicapping perspective. The blog will also offer handicapping information and selections from our handicappers, all successful horseplayers and when available, links to free past performances or handicapping information.

HANA Harness is the Harness Racing Division of the Horseplayers Association of North America (HANA). HANA, established in 2008 has grown to over 2500 members. To join HANA Harness please visit this link: http://www.horseplayersassociation.org/ and sign up. It’s free!

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HANA & Derby Wars Announce $10,000 Low Takeout HANA Game

 The Horseplayers Association of North America is pleased to announce that once again this year, the membership is invited to participate in an online handicapping tournament on Saturday April 13^th. This unique event will feature high quality races (including the Blue Grass Stakes and Arkansas Derby!) from tracks with advantageous takeout rates.

The handicapping contest is in partnership with derbywars.com, the preeminent online tournament site committed to providing players ample contest opportunities at industry leading takeout rates. Through the Derby Wars chat environment, members will be able to interact in real time with one another as well as HANA leadership. Please feel free to ask questions about our charter and find out more about our commitment to improving the game while enjoying the challenge of competing for a $10,000 prize pool.

Tournament Details:

• 12 races from Keeneland, Oaklawn and Aqueduct(some of the highest rated tracks for horseplayers)
• Card will include the Blue Grass Stakes and Arkansas Derby (and several other G1 and G2 stakes races)
• Contest format is $2 Win/Place mythical wagers
• Prize pool is $10,000 with prizes paid to the top 29 finishers
• Just $47 to enter!  (Limit: two entries per player)
• Total entries: 236
• Chat room access to HANA leadership and other members
• Must be a U.S. or Canadian resident.  Residents of AZ, IA, LA, TN, VT and WA are not eligible to play.  Must be 18 years old to play (21 in AL, NE and MS)
  

We look forward to competing and chatting with you on April 13^th for what promises to be a great day of high quality racing. 

Details on how to sign up for the game will follow. We look forward to playing together again this year!

We Don't Have to Only Patronize Apple Downs

In PC Magazine on Friday there was an interesting article about how Windows Phone and Blackberry are falling behind in the availablity of apps for their devices:

• BlackBerry 10 and Windows Phone 8 are still struggling to match the most popular apps on the dominant Android and iOS platforms, which could continue to slow sales of the smaller mobile platforms.

It's not as much the device that matters any more. The Blackberry is excellent but it has had a hard time recapturing a lot of the new market.

RIM has tried to remedy this with some investment.

• BlackBerry identifies the top 100-200 apps per country each month and courts those developers, execs said at the BlackBerry Z10 launch event in January. BlackBerry offers a bounty of up to $10,000 for developers who create high-quality, native apps. That garnered the new platform 70,000 apps at launch, which the company expects to be 100,000 apps by the time the Z10 comes out on AT&T.

Cutting into a market is tough, and even if you have the best product, you still might get lost. The deck is surely stacked against you.

In horse racing, there are some big tracks to bet - the obvious ones are Keeneland, Gulfstream, Belmont or Saratoga. In harness racing the Meadowlands and Woodbine come to mind. The biggest doesn't necessarily mean they're the best. There are a lot of other tracks doing some good things, who rarely get any press.

Some of these tracks are doing what RIM is doing: Trying their best to get you to their platform, though investment (things like lower takeout) and trying to build goodwill.

Here are some lesser known tracks that I've watched and bet this winter, and in my opinion they give me value as a horseplayer:

• Turfway Park: Their 14% pick 4's are as good as it gets, and they've had some excellent cards this season, with really deep fields. The poly has been playing fair and fast this meet. Post time favorites only win at 34.8% and the average win payoff has been a high $14.86 this year to date. Turfway is available at most ADW's for at-home players. If you only watch it for, let's say the Spiral Stakes, try handicapping around that race for a pick 4 or 5 and you might like what you see.
•  Sam Houston: I started following Sam Houston in earnest this year. Their fields are very large, especially on the turf, and if you see a sequence with some deep fields, they have a 12% takeout pick 3 to try. This is an enjoyable nighttime track on the weekends. It's also one of the best value tracks in thoroughbred racing for Monday bettors. If you are looking for something to bet Monday afternoon's give it a look. The crowd seems quite sharp (almost 40% favorites), but often enough a longer shot hits the ticket, and the ticket can pay.
• Balmoral Park: This harness track does not get all the press, or have the best horses behind the gate each night, but it's a good track to play. Pool size is pretty large and their low takeout pick 4 is very good value. The track marketing man is a bettor and he tries to cater to betting customers, with good deep fields.A pick 5 pool with a carryover hit over $150,000 this past meet, and their pick 4 pools are usually north of $30,000.

Upcoming meets I will watch are tracks like Hastings Park. They've been doing some great things and are vaulting up the HANA list of top racetracks in terms of betting value. 

The Meadowlands Is Catering To You, The Customer

The Meadowlands in East Rutherford New Jersey was purchased (some might say "saved") recently by Jeff Gural. During the past several months there have been many changes at the Jersey track, and most, if not all, were trying to benefit you, the horseplayer.

Some of these items include:

• An emphasis on carding "bettable races". The race office has work diligently to create races with full fields, that are (on paper) competitive. They started a classification system, when class drops can not occur without race office approval. The result has been 10 horse fields, that are very interesting to bet.
• No training by cell phone. Recently a trainer was suspended for drug positives and, like we see all too often, the horse's were simply transferred to an assistant. Jeff Gural and the Meadowlands are not accepting these entries and will not with anyone in the same situation.
• They've guaranteed pools and kept their low takeout pick 4 in place. The pick 4 and pick 5 pools have been very high, and they are guaranteed each night of the week.
• They've added information on sulky changes. Some drivers use different bikes. Instead of letting a player guess which is which (and which they prefer betting on) they announce them.
• Driver choices are announced right on their website. If a driver was listed on four horses before scratch time, they let you know who chose who. 
• They've created end of year stakes for older horses, which the public certainly enjoys watching and betting on.
• they're putting their money where their mouth is: A state of the art grandstand is being constructed and should be ready late this year.
• They've announced out of competition barn checks and testing and made trainers sign waivers for such, so they can be sure the product they put out there is filled with the best - and cleanest - this sport has to offer. 

Today they announced they are taking this one step further. 

There is nothing more head-scratching than a stale date horse. Was he sick, was he injured, did he have vet work, will he be tight? Seeing a horse off 27 days in harness racing is like a thoroughbred off 100 days with no workouts but sometimes they win, because they are fine, and trained hard for the race.

In a place like Hong Kong the issue the horse had, or may not have had, is published on a website. In the NFL, injury reports are the norm, because bettors need that information. In North American racing, you are left guessing.

At the Meadowlands you have some help. From today's press release:

The Meadowlands Racetrack program will now include enhanced information on horses showing no race lines for three weeks or more. 

             In the comment section for each race, those horses with 21 days or more away from racing will have some explanation of the reason for the inactivity and remarks on their level of preparedness for the upcoming race, provided by the trainer. Much like an NFL “Team Report” that indicates why a player missed practice or a game, this report will provide bettors with a little more information that they would not normally find in the past performances.

             For simulcast bettors, the layoff report will be posted as a TV Graphic on our nightly broadcast. Additionally, the layoff report will be posted on The Meadowlands Twitter Account and Facebook page.

We hope this information will be helpful and we encourage all trainers to make this information available and as accurate as possible for our customers handicapping.

These comments will be recorded by the Meadowlands Race Office and offered without edit or opinion by Meadowlands officials.

You can probably rest assure the comments will be honest, because if a trainer runs off the screen after telling the public his horse will likely be short, he might have a meeting with Gural and it won't be overly pleasant.

These things by themselves won't change the world. However, in our survey of horseplayers for both HANA Harness and HANA, you said you wanted lower takeout, better carded races, no training by cell phones, better information and tracks catering to trainers who don't get positives. The Meadowlands has delivered a lot of that.

For many years customers have wondered if there was anyone on their side in the sport. The Meadowlands appear to be telling us they have our backs, and bettors are responding. So far this meet the handle is up about 30%, and $3.5 million dollar nights are back in Jersey. This without slots, or government help; just done with something long forgotten in horse racing at some tracks, listening to their customers.

Poker Popularity on the Wane

Last week at HuffPo, poker was discussed in depth, and it seems that the popularity of the game is falling:

"In Sin City, epicenter of the poker craze, at least eight rooms have folded in the past two years. The trend is also playing out in Mississippi riverboats, Indian casinos and gambling halls near big cities from California to Florida."

If you remember, online poker was cracked down upon federally a few years ago, and online poker rooms have been shut down. A simple response to that (one might think) is that players would flock to live rooms to get their fix, but it hasn't happened. 

"Poker revenue has been falling in Nevada since 2007, the year after the federal government first cracked down on virtual gambling and forced online companies to close or relocate offshore. It's a story that's become increasingly common as the crackdown on Internet gambling weakens poker's appeal, and the casinos that once competed to lure fans of Texas Hold `Em abandon the waning game in favor of more lucrative alternatives.

"No longer could fresh crops of poker players develop their games online."

This is probably similar to what happened in horse racing. Back in mid-2000, the industry was behind snuffing out the online horse racing bet takers. It occurred and many trumpeted this as a vital point in bringing players back into the pools.
It never happened.

Online horse racing - pirates or not - attacked racing's problems at their core: They offered low takeout and convenience. When low takeout and convenience were taken away, these same players did not sign up for three ADW accounts to play all tracks at 22% rake.

Time and time again we'll read something from an industry meeting saying online horse racing bet takers are pirates, they don't give back to the game, if they were snuffed out people would flock to the track again. That, if poker and racing's history is any indication, is likely very wrong.

It's 2013, and in 2013 players want convenience and competition. Racing has not delivered it well, and it is still a problem that needs to be fixed.

Is the TOC Ready To Raise Takeout Again In California?

At yesterday's CHRB meeting in California, the Bloodhorse reported this:

" Hollywood and the Thoroughbred Owners of California have not come to an agreement extending the 14% takeout rate on the popular Pick 5 wager, either. Unless horsemen agree, the Pick 5 first instituted by Hollywood last year would only be offered at the standard 23% takeout rate on exotic wagers in California"

That's a whopping  64.2% increase in takeout. It's probably largest takeout hike ever devised.

We'll keep monitoring the situation, and look into topping up the gas tanks in the HANA plane.

A Big Splash for the Florida Derby?

Our friend Michael at Balmoral Park looked into the crystal ball and came up with, what we think, is a grand idea for the Rainbow Six. Should this play out, a $20 million dollar pool on national television could certainly give racing a much needed boost.

What do you think?

 I may have a grand idea for the Rainbow Six.

 Gulfstream races three days in April, with a closing day of Friday, April 5 which just happens to be Opening Day at Keeneland. The last Sunday in March is Easter Sunday and I am fairly certain that New York will not be able to wager on Gulfstream on March 31. This has always been a concern for Gulfstream management and they have changed their mandatory payout day in the past.

Which brings us to Saturday, March 30. The schedule for the day includes...

The Florida Derby Stakes

The Gulfstream Oaks Stakes

The Skip Away Stakes

The Rampart Stakes

The Appleton Stakes

The Orchid Stakes

The Sir Shackelton Stakes

 Lets look into the future because that is what horseplayers do. There are 27 racing days until The Florida Derby. In the event that nobody takes down the jackpot in those 27 days, we are looking at a carryover in the vicinity of $7,000,000. Amazing at this may seem, that is not the best part.

 NBC Sports starts their 2013 Road to the Derby on that day with the national telecast of The Florida Derby. If you can get thru these next 27 days without a unique ticket, and Gulfstream can make the decision to have a mandatory payout on Florida Derby Day, you are looking at a total Rainbow Six pool of $20,000,000 that you can bet for ten cents. You can bet what every horseplayer in the country will be doing that day.

 In conclusion, this is the type of event that could jump start the Road To The Kentucky Derby and the entire thoroughbred industry and create something unforgettable.

$20,000,000 pool on a ten cent bet.
National TV.
The Florida Derby.

This horse can't miss.

Notice to Illinois Residents about ADW (Account Deposit Wagering)

Illinois horseplayers are advised that The Illinois State Legislature allowed the statute authorizing ADW (Account Deposit Wagering) to sunset on 12-31-2012. You are also advised that the Legislature has failed to act, and to date, has not created new legislation that would reestablish ADW wagering for Illinois residents.

We at HANA believe the time has come for Illinois horseplayers to get involved. We urge you to contact your elected representatives and tell them your position on ADW wagering.

Here is a link to a .PDF that contains a list of House Members of the Illinois General Assembly: http://www.horseplayersassociation.org/housemembers_il.pdf

Here is a link to a .PDF that contains a list of Illinois State Senators: http://www.horseplayersassociation.org/senatemembers_il.pdf

Here is a link to a .PDF that contains a sample letter voicing support for new legislation to reestablish ADW wagering for Illinois residents: http://www.horseplayersassociation.org/adwletter_il.pdf

HANA Recommends Illinois Horseplayers Take the Following Action:
PRINT out the sample letter out and sign it (or craft a letter of your own.) Make sure your letter includes your printed name and address. Put your signed letter in an envelope. Be sure to print your return address clearly on the envelope. Put a postage stamp on the envelope and MAIL it to the offices of your State Senators and Assemblymen.

Also: CALL the offices of your elected officials and TELL the Staff Consultants working there your position on ADW wagering.

Then: TELL OTHERS. Send the following link out to other registered Illinois voters:

http://blog.horseplayersassociation.org/2013/02/notice-to-illinois-residents-about-adw.html

I have been told by Staff Consultants who work for State Senators and Assemblymen that registered voters doing it the old fashioned way – mailed in letters – and telephone calls – are much harder for elected officials to ignore than emails.

I urge you to take five minutes out of your day. Write a letter and mail it in. Then call. And tell others.

Make a difference.

Jeff Platt
President, HANA

Is Online Horse Racing A Blown Opportunity?

This Valentine's Day I shopped online, like I'm sure many of you have. I was unsure what I was looking for, but after some research I found something I liked. I went to a website after typing in my search phrase in Google and the page I landed on was nothing that I was looking for. I went to another, and another. Finally, I landed on a page that had what I was looking for, at a fair price. This retailer made the process fast and easy. They got my sale.

In this fast-paced world, delivering exactly what someone is searching for drives your business. Research shows that the first ten seconds of a web visit is critical. If you put roadblocks in front of a user, try and hoodwink them, or make them go to a page depth of three or four, or five or six on your site to find what they're looking for, you might as well put a dagger through your online business. 

Scanning google trends I think this may be apparent for horse racing. This is a search index for "online horse betting"

Searchers may be more sophisticated now and don't use that term any longer, but if you scan subsets with horse racing, betting, wagering and online, the results are similar. It appears racing has a problem converting this term into a paying customer, and the customers are frustrated. Adding credibility to this, is that the lowest standardized search index for these terms are in states like Alaska and Wisconsin. Those places do not allow internet wagering.

Just like seeing an ad on TV for a Valentine's gift idea and looking for it on your iPad, if someone is watching the Kentucky Derby and wants to make a bet on the race or get more information online, quick and easy, they search for online horse betting, or online horse racing. They land on a page that is not very user friendly. It has residency requirements due to state and horsemen "home area" deals. It has roadblock after roadblock for a willing buyer. I get the sweats just thinking about it.

Fifteen or twenty years ago online businesses were finding ways to improve usability, ease of purchase, shipping issues and all the rest to ensure a smooth buying funnel. Most businesses online are still working at it today. It seems horse racing has not worked on this as much as they should have been. Perhaps that's why we're seeing frustrated potential customers not searching for horse racing betting online much anymore at all. It's not that they don't want to bet horse racing online, land on an NFL.com-type site with video and all the rest, or be a horse racing customer, it's just that they aren't shown an easy way to be a horse racing customer.

Chasing the Pick 6 Madness

Gulfstream Park has a 1.5 million dollar carryover in its Rainbow Six today, and a $60,000 carry in its Pick 5 as well. To say that Gulfstream's handle will be large today may be an understatement.

The Rainbow Pick Six has caused much discussion in the horseplayer community. 

On the negative side:

•  As Andy Beyer wrote, the takeout is off the charts. For true blue horseplayers, this is a bad takeout bet.
• It eliminates churn. That's probably true, too. Bets like this suck bankrolls, through high takeout and locking up money. That's not a good thing. A $196 pick 6 is $196 that can't be bet in low takeout win pools, or doubles. 

On the positive side:

•  Jackpot bets create buzz and bring in a new demographic. There is a little old lady playing dime slots in the slots parlor right now trying to win a $224 jackpot. She can come over to the track side, bet a $24 ticket and have a shot at two million.
• The favorite lonshot bias is alive and well in the Rainbow Six. With people buying tickets with so many bombs, the favorites are underbet. If you take a logical ticket, keying some hard to beat chalk, you can walk away with a decent bet - below the 52% rake, that's for sure. It's a skill and an art. 

The one thing I find positive about the Rainbow Six, is that it's fun. There is nothing wrong with trying to have a little bit of fun at the racetrack is there? If you were alive yesterday after the first three or four legs, the excitement you felt is something that you never forget.

As the aforementioned Andy Beyer once said,  

"The capacity to enjoy: so few people have it. A gambler may have as many periods of frustration as he does exhilaration, but at least he knows he's alive."

The Rainbow Six certainly does that.

What do you think about it? Should it be discontinued, or do we see merit in it for horse racing?

Things I'd Like to See in 2013

Here's a wishlist for 2013, off the top of a horseplayers head.

• I'd like to see a 15% pick 5 at all NYRA racetracks. This summer the pools would be great at 'Toga and someone will walk away with a lot of money for a 50 cent denomination ticket.
• I'd like to see a racetrack and a government get together to create a horse racing lottery. Each paid admission to a racetrack gives you a ticket where you pick 9 numbers, corresponding to nine races. One ticket, one combo. This bet is also sold in stores or at Lottery kiosks. With some work horse racing could have a multi-million dollar lottery to promote to slots players. 
• I'd like to see horse racing eliminate coupled entries at the big tracks. Bettors don't need to be protected from themselves, and the people in the sport are not criminals. Racing for a $75,000 Maiden Special Weight with a couple $400,000 two year olds and worrying about cashing a bet at 7-2? Please. Expand field size by eliminating the 1 and 1A's from this sports lexicon.
• I'd like to see NYRA's pick 3 rules be their pick 4 rules. That's the Golden Ticket, if you know what I mean.
• I'd like to read a headline or email from someone in California racing that doesn't talk about raising takeout on their customers to fix their problems. 
• I'd like it so each time a horse is beaten by more than a half a football field, the trainer reports the issue to the race office and that information is in the racing form as a condition of entry, so I don't have to guess what happened. Call it the "Hong Kong Respect For Horseplayer Money Act"
• I'd like to see all slot tracks have a maximum takeout in the Win, Place and Show Pools of 10%.
• I'd like it if all horseplayers who play on track sign up for a betting awards card and swipe it each time they make a bet. Take advantage of points or lower takeout, because beating 22% can be maddening. 
• I'd like to see uniform payouts on my screen. Did the exacta pay $30 for a buck or $2 at Turfway? Was that a 50 cent pick 4 payout or was it for a dollar? Each time I seem to hit a pick 4 for 50 cents I get half the price shown on the screen. Murphy's Law of horseplaying. 
• I'd like to see uniform probables on my screen at my friendly neighborhood simo-center too. Do Magna tracks still show probables for a dollar? I don't really know.
• I'd like to see Tom LaMarra write more. He gets it.
• I'd like to read a headline that says every ADW and signal is open to bet on January 1st because a horsemen group & track cares more about customers than fighting.
• I'd like to see horsplayers embrace a bet like the 12% pick 3 at Sam Houston. You might not know the jocks or the horses, but you'll learn, and in the end you'll have more fun because you'll make more money.
• I'd like to see, as a condition for being a member of the TOC (Thoroughbred Owners of California) you need to sit with a bettor for a week so you know what he or she goes through trying to beat 23% takeouts on the doubles.
• I'd like to see slots tracks set aside 5% of their revenue for the horseplayer via player rewards and lower takeout, and 5% of purses for marketing.
• I'd like to see Genting Casino buy a broom to be used across the hall at the racetrack. If it's there someone will use it.
• I'd like to see all tracks be named "Racetrack and Casino" not "Casino and Racetrack"
• I'd like to see tracks that work hard for your money, be rewarded with it.
• I'd like to see Kentucky get casino's or slots at racetracks, because I think they'd sink a lot of money into horse racing; unlike a lot of other places.
• I'd like to see every track have Trakus installed. Make a deal with them on some sort of "bulk" thing. If the Jockey Club can try and ban lasix, this one should be easy.
• I'd like to be able to bet into a betting exchange, so when I bet a horse at 3-1 I get $8 back, instead of betting him at 3-1, seeing him go to 8-5 at the half mile pole and swearing like a sailor. 
• I'd like to see a frog juice trainer not in my racing form, but working at Wal Mart instead. Preferably not in the pet department. 
• I'd like to see owners set aside some sort of their yearling expenses for horse retirement. I'm a horseplayer, but I still love horses.
• I'd like to see everyone in racing have a happy and wonderful 2013. Good luck and thanks for reading.

NTRA Press Release - Good News For The Industry's Handle

Following targeted lobbying from the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), “Fiscal Cliff” legislation passed yesterday by both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives contained language in Section 68 (c)(3) of the tax code that exempts wagering losses from being subject to the newly enacted limitation on itemized deductions, as previously reported by NTRA here.

“I salute our legislative team in Washington,” said Alex Waldrop, President and CEO of the NTRA. “They not only identified this key issue for members of Congress while various fiscal cliff proposals were in their early stages, the team also proposed a solution that was ultimately adopted. While the outcome of these latest negotiations can be viewed as a victory for horseplayers, the issue of comprehensive tax reform is expected to be taken up later this year. The NTRA will continue to work closely on this issue and others affecting horseracing and breeding.”