At the very least, Calder management should allow it's locals to set up a bookmaking ring outside of the paddock like in the glory days of the sport.
Get a chalk board, a bunch of chalk sticks, a couple of stands, and let the local customers have at it with each other.
If these clueless dopes in management at CDI think keeping takeout rates at idiotically high levels is good business, which they do, why not also charge draconian stall rent to the trainers?
It's basically the exact same thing.
However, the only difference, is that the horsemen can apparently screw them back.
The bettors simply slowly diminish over time and bet less and less.
Thanks to a TON of huge improvements in technology that make wagering on horses easier and more convenient, and thanks to inflation over the years ... tracks can post handle figures that look ok.
Just think how big the sport could be again if they ever figured out that they're sucking the life out of the sport with their excessive takeout rates and that they're getting precious little out of the technology that exists.
There is no exchange wagering anywhere in the USA. There is no In-race betting anywhere in the USA. You think people who made bets on the Kentucky Oaks wouldn't want to make more bets after what happened at the start of that race? The trading that would have gone on a few seconds into that race would have been frenzied!
I know I'm probably preaching to the choir with you ... but the same a/effect you would get from charging all trainers stall rent everywhere is the same a/effect tracks have got with the bettors when they started raising takeout rates from 5% over a century ago, to 8% in the early pari-mutual age, to the ridiculous levels they're at right now.
All the marketing efforts, and all the BS about how they need to get fans to the track and have fun, it worked about as well as a Daily Double pool with a grand total of $212 on it, on Kentucky Oaks day, at the only horse track running in the city of Miami.
You want to see horse racing gain a massive public popularity boom and reestablish itself firmly in Sports Culture ... start lowering takeout rates, start using technology more competently, start allowing exchange wagering, start allowing in-race wagering, and open up the platforms to let users make their own props.
When a track manages to at least achieve the first one, it's like a minor miracle worthy of celebration in my opinion.
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