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10% ? When? were? So , what did a split look like? 4%-4% and 2%? Please tell me.
Throughout thoroughbred racing in the 1930's. I'll dig up some old charts from then showing "Handle" and "Amount Returned to Bettors"Meanwhile, go to the 5th or 6th paragraph of this article from DRF June 17, 1935.. Florida at 10%, Cali at 12%https://drf.uky.edu//scripts/ViewerJS/#../../catalog/1930s/drf1935061701/0389_3.pdf
A message board is part of the problem in harness racing? Get real. Why do harness horseman always blame others and expect Handouts? Bottom line...handle is so low it is not sustainable. Obviously many reasons for that but don't try to blame a message board
More crying and finger pointing. btw, if take out was 10% like it was back when horse and harness racing was Ameirca's #1 spectator sport, harness racing would be thriving.
Calhoun: I'd like to agree with you, but I can only speak from my experiences of seeing crowded racetracks at Roosevelt, Yonkers and Monticello both as a young fan and eventually an active horseman for about 8 years..The crowds I saw that flooded the above harness tracks with crowds of 20K here in NY in the 60's and 70's were basically born in the early 1900's through my dad's generation born in the 1930's and 40's...These fans could care less about the takeout from the track or that races at times were fixed..It was the only game in town and they loved it fixed or not..As these generations died off, so did the business..I wish you were right that reducing the tracks takeout to 10% would do the trick but the young people today have zero interest in this game..My own 2 kids and their friends like going to Monmouth during the summer especially when they have other events going on there or hitting Saratoga for an exciting day at the races and enjoying the town afterwards ..There's not even a thought of visiting a harness track unless I beg them...Maybe you are right that reducing the take out to 10% would increase online betting somewhat from sophisticated gamblers such as yourself and others on here but I can't see it making that huge a difference in handle or bring any real crowds through the gates...
There is enough blame for everyone. The truth is, there is not enough public interest in harness racing ina competitive environment to support it as an entity. Please don't tell me about all the gypsies and thieves. Racing has always had these characters. In the 1970's, racing had numerous scandals, investigations and arrests. And not low level participants. Some of the biggest names like, Herve. There were owners and race fixers that went to prison. There were riots at the racetrack. There were bookmakers and shylarks everywhere. Though all that, the industry survived and thrived. Why? Because it was the only legal gambling game in town. Now that people have choices with their gambling dollar, racing has shrunk every day. Very few people care about harness racing. If Roosevelt Raceway was dog track, there would have been 50,000 in attendance for the International Bow Wow. Gambling and night racing is what put harness racing on the map. Please don't tell me, ..." if they would advertise and market..." All throughout the 1990's, when racing was loosing patrons everyday to other forms of gambling, All the major tracks ran TV commercials, newspaper ads, radio, bus and subway advertising radio... It di very little to attract new patrons. Today, you would probably spend 100x or more on customer acquisition then, it would return . So yea, horsemen contributed to the down fall , States withdrew funding when the parimutuel became almost nothing, resulting in unpoliced and corrupt judges. But there was the same level of incompetence thievery 50 years ago. The greatest difference is, we had no choice. Today we have choices and people are not choosing racing.For more proof, look at Scioto Downs. When they were the only harness track operating and competing with C level t-bred tracks they handled 4-5x their average handle. But, once the people had choices, they chose other tracks. And, for the sake of purse accounts, I hope casinos come back strong but, what will that do to erode the harness fan base? Blaming one group will do nothing more than erode the entire group. An entirely new mission statement and business plan is needed.
