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[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by Dunbar

(emphasis added)

I don't think even reduced takeout can make a difference. When Ellis reduced takeout on it's Pick-4's to 4% for an entire meet 2 years ago, it hardly made a difference. People preferred the 20%+ takeouts at the "big" tracks. How much did Pimlico's recent experiment with lowered takeout raise handle? Not much.

--Dunbar

I don't think that these two experiments really are what drgs was refering to when he talked of meaningful reductions in handle. It is really hard to get people to bet a C level signal that they dont follow with any real money simply because one bet has a reduced handle for a few weeks.

Giving people more money back when they win can only help. The question is can the handle rise enough to allow the parties that give up their share of the takeout to at least break even? Over the long term it probably could but this is a business where longterm thinking is non-existent and most of the execs at the corporate owned tracks are just trying to stay employed.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

I don't think that these two experiments really are what drgs was refering to when he talked of meaningful reductions in handle. It is really hard to get people to bet a C level signal that they dont follow with any real money simply because one bet has a reduced handle for a few weeks.

Yep.

Ellis Park was up against Saratoga and Del Mar - and I believe they did see a big handle increase as there P4 pools were pretty minimal prior to that one-meet expierment.

I believe Pimlico was also up against Saratoga and Del Mar when they tried it for something like 10 or 12 racing days.