Sunday, May 3, 2009

Different Prices Everywhere

Depending on where you bet the Derby, life was either good, or bad.

Sport is made for betting gives us our chart picture above, and discusses the race at Betfair on his blog (click the link to read his blog, click the picture to see the chart more clearly). The bulk of the wagering was done on Mine That Bird at 140-1 or above.

Conversely, due to the rules here in Canada that anger bettors (and anger is not too strong a word) with different fingers-in-the-pie economics with groups wanting bettors money, the payoffs stunk.

The Tri in HPI (Canada's ADW): $38,426.60
The Tri at Churchill Downs: $41,500.60

The Super in HPI: $515,746.80
The Super at Churchill: $557,006.40

Yes, just for those two bets you paid a fee of about $45,000, or around 20% higher than the average yearly salary in this country.

Who gets the money? Your guess is as good as mine. Fixing this issue and giving bettors what they deserve is long overdue.

140-1 at a betting exchange or paying a $45,000 fee here in Canada? Which is better? It's pretty obvious. The betting exchange is growing, and we are floundering.

4 comments:

malcer said...

There are several good reasons to criticize betfair's influence on the sport, but there's one feature that horseplayers have to love: you always know at what odds you place your bets.
With tote odds still frequently dropping by a third in the middle of the race and widespread rumors of rampant past-post betting, there is a refreshing quality to this.

Allan said...

I believe the discrepancy in prices is due to the Canadian rule that the takeout be the rate be what is in effect where the wager is made and not where the race is run.

I agree that is outrageous but under Canadian law, if the US tracks did not agree to this, you would have had a separate and smaller pool to wager into.

Reminds me of the stupid surcharge NY OTB charges. This is why I, the $2 bettor doesn't go there anymore.

Cangamble said...

Allan, to my knowledge there is no such "rule." Actually, HPI/WEG ramps up triactors to 25% (when the takeout is lower for a specific track), which is still lower than what they charge their valued customers for their own product (28.3%).
They do it because they can.

Allan said...

This comes from Woodbine's own website regarding common pool wagering:

Why might payoffs on some pools differ from that of the host?

Why do you not display the Canadian odds channel on U.S. common pool tracks?

Since WEG plans to use the same takeout rates as the U.S. track for the display pools (Win, Exactor, Double, Quinella), we can use the odds and probables reflected on their live video. Should WEG use a different rate on other pools (e.g. Triactors, Superfectas), a separate price channel will be available

Since some U.S. tracks have extraordinarily low takeout rates on some pools (e.g. Triactors, Superfectas) that do not accommodate the high mandatory deductions in Canada, WEG will use a minimum of 25% for the total takeout on these pools. This is a very common rate that is used by other U.S. tracks

Would this explain the difference in payouts?

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