Racing: It’s just a bad bet!

Racing has its problems—one major one being IT’S JUST A BAD BET!

Not just for harness racing…ALL forms of pari-mutuel racing!!!

Pari-mutuel wagering has its limits….and racing needs a boost, somehow, to survive.

Encyclopedias are long outdated…so are typewriters and rotary dial phones…and 50,000 other innovations that have come forth during our lifetime.

Nobody realizes the ice melting from its fan base day-by-day.

Maybe nobody cares.

In this age of “smart” phones, racing needs to get “smart” to save itself.

We have pari-mutuel wagering in the United States in 32 of those united States.

Canada has it in four of their great provinces.

Pari-mutuel wagering is not quite out-of-vogue…but it sure needs a boost, or the sports associated with it will inevitably melt away as global warming is doing to our shorelines.

The “powers-to-be”—the authorities that oversee our sport—have to begin to realize that racing IS A BAD BET for all the members—and prospective future members—of the BDHC (Broken Down Horseplayers Club).

Win-place-show wagers range from a takeout of around 15% up to 25%—States legislate their own numbers—up to 35% on exotic wagers.

That doesn’t leave much room for churn, does it?

According to the UNLV gaming statistics, in Florida, the combined “hold” for casinos in 2023 was 6.69% with the “best bets” being at the Big Easy casino (5.73% hold) or Dania Beach (5.85%) with Harrah’s Pompano Beach on the other end of the scale with an 8.50% hold—the “hold” being the casino win.

In New York, the “hold” was 5.94% and, In Nevada, the “hold” is said to be around 7.0%.

Oh, pari-mutuel betting will still be with us but, with this new, innovative idea, racing will no longer be dependent on it and casinos will be less likely to show its disdain for racing when shareholders for these publicly held companies start to revolt on the drain to profits because of racing.

First, a “bit” of history…

Back even before 1860, there were “policy shops” in the U.S. where bettors chose numbers and, by 1875, a report in New York came out stating that the “lowest, worst form of gambling was taking place in that city, and it was flourishing big time across the country.

Chicago was a hotspot, as well, and Louisiana had a what was known as a lottery up until around 1892.

There were policy banks around offering odds of 600 to 1 and, with three numbers chosen between one and 999, the odds were with the, well, racketeers.

In Boston, for example, the “number” was based on the handle from races at Suffolk Downs or tracks in New York.

The numbers game spread like wildfire. All the bigger cities featured the numbers game.

Illegal it was…but when the States found out that they could make money on it, all of a sudden, it became legal.

We all know that all of the lotteries throughout the U.S.A. take a big bite out of the gaming dollar and their “take” is said to be around 40%—yes 40%—and the frenzy around the lottery keeps growing and growing…and GROWING.

Sports betting hasn’t helped our cause, either, as harness racing has yet to get involved in that aspect in the new wave of gaming.

Harness racing—-actually, all forms of pari-mutuel racing—needs to become entwined with the lottery.

Every State that has pari-mutuel racing can have a harness racing lottery and, nationally, there can be one, as well, just like the recent BILLION DOLLAR JACKPOTS that have produced so much hullabaloo in the country.

We could call it “E-Lotto”—the “E” for Equine” with an initial “seed” of, say, $2,000,000.

“E-Lotto” could offer 20 cent tickets and who wouldn’t spend a “bit” at 20 cents a combination to try and pick nine (9) winners at the selected racetrack?

Hey—make that “hay”—a ticket with a few “singles” plus the Grand Finale final race would cost less than some lottery tickets and the frenzy could send this up into the stratosphere with rollovers until it’s hit.

Can anyone imagine this E-Lotto jackpot reaching $200,000,000 or more?

It’s happening quite frequently these days.

We’ve all seen this scenario play out over the past few months with the news coverage at a frenzy, as well.

This would bring new life, brand new attention and a brand-new type of player to our industry with the dream of winning a jackpot that our sport is, currently, unable to offer.

There’s no stronger lure in the lottery than $$$$$$$$…and the odds against winning are unimportant—NO MATTER THE ODDS.

(Heck, we all know gamblers that would bet on two cock-a-roaches crossing the street with saddle pads on their shells.)

With 60% being paid to holders of winning tickets, the scenario could be something like this…

Picking four (4) winners gets the ticket holder $10.

Five (5) winners would equal $50…six (6) winners would be worth $200…seven (7) winners would earn the ticket holder $500…and eight (8) winners without the Grand Finale nightcap would be worth $10,000.

Nine (9) winners would win or share the top prize at that time with the top prize increasing just as the “numbers” lotto features today.

What are the odds of winning?

That depends on the number of entrants in each “E”-Lotto race so, to cover all combinations in all of the races—with all races having eight entrants in all nine (9) races—the odds would be 134,217,728 to 1 or, in 20 cent terms, cost $26,843,545.60…(I think!)

A reasonably good handicapper might try and “corner the market” when the prize is in the stratosphere with a 3x3x3x3x3x3x3x3x8 with those odds being 52,488 to 1 with a 20-cent ticket cost of $10,497.60.

Heck, even some folks on Social Insecurity might spend $28,80 for a cheap ticket—or, at a least, go partners, if the prize is a couple of mil!!!!!

A $200 million dollar lure—with possible escalation as weeks roll by—just might be the savior of our sport as a 40% take out would allocation for purse increases, funds for racehorse aftercare (no more kill pens), an equine social security program, the development of an educational program to insure the longevity of our sport and so many other necessary programs that have been left at the starting gate thus far.

Sales outlets on nearly every corner…just as there are today with our lotteries.

Pari-mutuel racing—our sport—would be alive, again.

Of course, there will be naysayers that say that “this can NEVER happen.”

…like the naysayers that are enjoying computers today…and smart phones…and the microwave oven…and electronic television with 500 channels, instead of four…and the…and the World Wide Web…and the compact disc—now almost obsolete—and a flash drive to file everything from notes to hearing music…and the video tape…and sliced bread…and 50,000 other things…

Let’s get the starting gate rolling…it’s about TIME!

May The Horse Be With YOU!

by John Berry, for Harnesslink