Tell Churchill Downs You Want Dime Supers!

[Thunder Gulch]

Originally Posted by booner

I can understand them not wanting to offer dime supers at the track on Derby Day. I would hate to be a teller constantly handing out the extra $.60 all day long.

I don't see any reason why they couldn't be offered through ADW's.

I'd play the supers, but like many others here, I will be in attendance and adding them to the wagering menu could cause a nightmare at the windows. It's not unusual to wait 30 minutes in line to wager and still get shutout of a race. Think about what you have. 75% of the tellers are temps there for one day, and 75% of the crowd doesn't have any clue what they are doing. I've heard a lot of folks go to the window and try to call the horse's name instead of number.

[Travis Stone]

Don't get me wrong here, I'm not necessarily against 10-cent supers, and the jury I suppose is still out on whether or not they're good thing for the bottom line.

[parsixfarms]

Personally, I'm a big proponent of fractional wagering; it can allow you to spread with a longshot that you might not want to invest the "full" amount on, and as Steve Crist has pointed out on several occasions, given the current IRS withholding structure, it's often better to hit these wagers in fractional amounts.

When there are only a few thousand people at the track on a daily basis, no one that really wants to get a bet in is going to get shut out by some "novice" taking a long time at the windows/machines. (That being said, on a day like Derby Day, I can see why some sort of modification might be necessary, but not banning the .10 super altogther.)

This raises another pet peeve of mine with NYRA. This past weekend I was at Keeneland, which offers a .50 pic-4 wager. NYRA takes the pic-4 wager from Keeneland, and I attempted to make a .50 pic-4 wager through my NYRA One account but was told that I had to bet a $1 ticket through their system. NYRA used to do the same thing with the dime super at other tracks until NYRA adopted the bet. This is an absurd policy, especially when the fractional wagers can be placed at OTB and simulcast locations. All NYRA did in this case was cost themselves $$ because I placed the desired wager on track at Keeneland rather than utilizing my NYRA phone account for that particular wager.

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by parsixfarms

This raises another pet peeve of mine with NYRA. This past weekend I was at Keeneland, which offers a .50 pic-4 wager. NYRA takes the pic-4 wager from Keeneland, and I attempted to make a .50 pic-4 wager through my NYRA One account but was told that I had to bet a $1 ticket through their system. NYRA used to do the same thing with the dime super at other tracks until NYRA adopted the bet. This is an absurd policy, especially when the fractional wagers can be placed at OTB and simulcast locations. All NYRA did in this case was cost themselves $$ because I placed the desired wager on track at Keeneland rather than utilizing my NYRA phone account for that particular wager.

Just so it's clear, NYRA can't just offer these bets on a whim....they are required to get approval from the New York State Racing and Wagering board first. Whether or not they should, or would, do this is another question entirely...and a much larger discussion that, at least I, don't feel like having right now.

[parsixfarms]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

Just so it's clear, NYRA can't just offer these bets on a whim....they are required to get approval from the New York State Racing and Wagering board first. Whether or not they should, or would, do this is another question entirely...and a much larger discussion that, at least I, don't feel like having right now.

I'm not a NYRA basher (I realize that a lot of their problems stem from NYSRWB), but I doubt seriously that this is a RWB issue. After all, I can bet the .50 pic-4 at either Capital OTB or the Saratoga Harness track. It's pretty clear to me that NYRA, whether through acts of omission or comission, is depriving its players of the opportunity to place the wager in the amount they desire.

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by parsixfarms

I'm not a NYRA basher (I realize that a lot of their problems stem from NYSRWB), but I doubt seriously that this is a RWB issue. After all, I can bet the .50 pic-4 at either Capital OTB or the Saratoga Harness track. It's pretty clear to me that NYRA, whether through acts of omission or comission, is depriving its players of the opportunity to place the wager in the amount they desire.

I wasn't insinuating it was NYRA bashing ( or didn't mean to ).

If the other places are offering it then I may well be wrong. I will check it out.

I will guess that if NYRA can offer them, and have chosen not to, it is because their Pick-4 is a $1 minimum and they don't want to lower it ( I could argue both sides ) and feel there is a basic hypocracy in offering one for $1 and another for $.50.

[parsixfarms]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

I will guess that if NYRA can offer them, and have chosen not to, it is because their Pick-4 is a $1 minimum and they don't want to lower it ( I could argue both sides ) and feel there is a basic hypocracy in offering one for $1 and another for $.50.

I think you've hit the nail on the head here. I simply don't agree with their view on fractional wagering.