Sunday, February 21, 2010

Three Times Heads or Tails, One For the House

In a pretty cool act of google mapping, an ADW created a harness track map, complete with takeouts. It's here.

Clicking the icons for takeout data is like a kid opening up his Christmas stocking and finding a lump of coal.

I wonder how that 32% superfecta take is doing at Chester. You can get a bargain on trifectas though; that take is only 30%.

Or how about that 24.6% win, place show takeout at Hiawatha? Would you play any game where if you flip a coin four times one of the results go to the house?

In the words of a thoroughbred playing friend of mine after seeing this map: "No wonder no one plays harness racing, they are all broke".

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is it possible for "hiawatha" to levy a 25% takeout on WPS betting.
Usually WPS is lowest of all takeouts, and if true what must their takeout be for exotics.

Many thanks for pointing this out, as I was planning a trip in the area, but now that track is definitely off limits for me, AND I hope for everyone else.

With that kind of rake, it seems like track mgt. is doing a splendid job to kill racing. And why not, slots is a better revenue producer and causes less operating problems. Their CEO should start promoting a 40% to 50% takeout, so that racing can implode even faster.

Anonymous said...

The map is too cool, the info stinks. When are we going to wake up and get competitive? The worst is more and more people are acknowledging the problem (finally) but still no one wants to do anything more than "test" the theory with one lowered wagering option. Time to move past "testing", the M1 pick four is proof, lower the take and up goes the pool, and of course the handle. It is working. Now lets get ALL wagers in line, soon.
Regards, Rebecca
P.S. I do not wager myself, but I do understand that when this many sources say something stinks, and than back it up with proof, than something needs to change.

Anonymous said...

Ron Waples mentioned that the take-outs need to be lowered for horse racing to compete. He gets it, now all we have to do is convince the ones who make the rules. would you rather have 25% of $100 or 15% of $300?

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