Crist Article on TV Coverage

[Dunbar]

Originally Posted by 10 pnt move up

Yea, I am sure you are right, racing just needs another Secretariat and all will be back to the way it was (I know you did not say that but it seems to be the prevailing opinion.

There is no single cure-all for racing. But having its stars race longer (and more often) would not be a bad thing.

Originally Posted by 10 pnt move up

I put about 3k through Ellis Pick Four that summer, so on that take it was only about 150 bucks but it sure beat the nothing I would have wagered.

In 2005 I put 100k through the windows, last year I put about 5k, I assure you it had nothing to do with good horses in the sport, it only cost horseman around 17k by my not playing, no big deal, I am small time.

It sounds like you put a healthy proportion of your 2007 action into the Ellis Pic4. A few others on this board did likewise.

The Ellis 4% Pic4 pools were mostly between $18K-$30K. $30K is a pitiful fraction of the money bet each day on horses. I personally accounted for over 1% of the Ellis Pic4 action that summer, averaging over $300/day into the pool. My betting was a combination of recognizing a good opportunity and seeing a need to support that promotion. It would only have taken another 100 bettors like me to have made that promotion seem a lot more successful.

Gamblers show time after time that odds are of minimal importance to them. I wrote this back in 2007:

In Las Vegas, you now see blackjack players sitting down to play a game where a blackjack pays 6:5 as if it doesn't matter that they are not getting the 3:2 offered nearby. (You'd think they'd regret the $15 they are shorted on a $50 natural!) You see video poker players sitting at a Jacks Or Better game with an 8-5 pay schedule, even though they could easily find a 9-6 pay schedule. It shouldn't have surprised me that horse players would continue to flock to 25% takeout even when 4% takeout is available. But it did surprise me. I thought we as a group were a notch above the casino lemmings.

Since writing that, the 6:5 blackjack game has spread to many more casino pits. 9-6 Jacks-Or-Better video poker is becoming rarer, because most casino patrons will still play if the game is 8-5. I haven't seen anything to show that horseplayers would respond in a significant way to a lower takeout, either.

--Dunbar