STEVE CRIST (On concept from March..
Sick 6 at Churchill
Speaking of carryovers, here’s hoping someone hits the pick six on the Kentucky Derby card at Churchill Downs on May 7. Otherwise, a game of parimutuel three-card monte will kick in under a scheme unfortunately approved this week by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.
To see how it works, let’s suppose that the Derby pick six pool, where the minimum bet is $2, is exactly $1 million. After the usual 22 percent takeout, that leaves $780,000 that’s supposed to be paid out – $190,000 in Derby Day consolations and $570,000 that normally would be up for grabs in a carryover pool when racing at Churchill resumes on Thursday, May 12.
Instead, Churchill will add only half of that $570,000 to the May 12 pool, which will be conducted with a 20-cent minimum and with a mandatory payout. The other half of the pool will be carried over to Friday, May 13, to seed a new Rainbow-style “Single 6” pool that Churchill is beginning that day. That pool is paid out only when there is a lone winner, so it’s entirely possible that the Derby Day carryover money won’t be paid out until June.
This is dangerous policy that disrespects the integrity of the wagering pools. It makes the effective pick six takeout on Derby Day a whopping 49 percent, with $220,000 from that $1 million pool going to standard takeout and another $270,000 in carryover money going into an entirely different kind of pick six pool starting almost a week later. It is also messy to have a carryover pool from a $2 minimum wager paid out several days later on a 20-cent-minimum wager.
It amounts to diverting money from a parimutuel pool into a marketing scheme to promote an entirely different wager, a scary precedent that could enable tracks to seize money from parimutuel pools for their own promotional use. Churchill makes more than enough money on the Derby to seed its own pool for a new wager without confiscating it from bettors who deserve to be paid the full carryover the first time the pick six is hit after Derby Day.
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