Are Horse Players the Stupid ones?

[careless hal]

http://www.harnessracingupdate.com/restricted/pdf/hru/hru042712.pdf

Great article exploring the risks of playing slots and playing the horses.  I often said that the high takeout in horse racing bets make it impossible to win in the long run.  Even the 14-15% takeout on Pk 4s is outrageously high. Read any book on gambling and the first thing they will say is to play games with the lowest take out to have the best chance to win.  Of course, I love horse racing and am willing to pay to enjoy it..

[tonyb147]

That's why I love craps. Playing the odds on a pass line bet essentially pays true odds.

Hell, even my bookie only takes 10% 

[MichiganDale]

http://www.harnessracingupdate.com/restricted/pdf/hru/hru042712.pdf

Great article exploring the risks of playing slots and playing the horses.  I often said that the high takeout in horse racing bets make it impossible to win in the long run.  Even the 14-15% takeout on Pk 4s is outrageously high. Read any book on gambling and the first thing they will say is to play games with the lowest take out to have the best chance to win.  Of course, I love horse racing and am willing to pay to enjoy it..

  I agree with Hal......I play the ponies and have played the ponies since before I was 'legal' (Washington Park never seemed to care about my 'age' when taking bets at the windows) and I do it for entertainment and will pay for it.   Back in the day people said if you bet the horses you'd catch the 'gambling fever', that dreaded disease that would lead to a compulsive gambling addiction.  I caught the fever, took some aspirin's and all was well....... Well, I'm doing well in life, despite the God Awful takeouts and thats why I'm seem with four or five programs open in front of me and firing away because I love the Action.  Takeout should matter but it really don't affect my 'investing.'

[careless hal]

That's why I love craps. Playing the odds on a pass line bet essentially pays true odds.

Hell, even my bookie only takes 10% 

I agree about craps.  But---how often do you see most players at a table placing the high house advantage prop bets. Blackjack isn't bad.  If you can count the cards -even better.  Too much work for me.  I do have a cousin who has two PHDs.  One in nuclear physics and one in geophysics, now he can count cards    .  But, he only goes to Vegas every two or three years and then doesn't make outrageous bets.  The bottom line is no matter how good or bad you are at any gambling game, lady luck can make the worst player a winner and the best player a loser.

[GalloBlueChip]

http://www.harnessracingupdate.com/restricted/pdf/hru/hru042712.pdf

Read any book on gambling and the first thing they will say is to play games with the lowest take out to have the best chance to win.

While that statement might be true when it comes to Casino Games. Horse racing is a different animal, Literally.  Most casino games are strictly games of chance, with a few exceptions. There are ways to learn and study the Horse game, which gives you a better shot.

I am in the minority when it comes to ranting about the takeouts, mostly because your only recourse is to not gamble on the Ponies in the first place. The PK4 especially is a wonderful play against the takout, due to the fact that ONE large hit makes up for many misses.

Long run profit in the horse game is about setting limits and sticking to them, which is difficult to do when your first starting out, but gets better with experience. It's certainly not impossible by any means.

[Elgin]

In 1969 the partnership between New York and the trotting tracks was at its apex: everyone was happy. Year-round racing was flourishing and the tracks were handling more money than ever. In turn the state was taking about $83 million out of the trotting tracks. Then the pols got greedy and OTB was introduced in 1971. Takeout at that time ran about 11%. The tracks emptied out and the OTB parlors filled up. While the state took 11% and most of the breakage from the on-track handle, they only got

[careless hal]

While that statement might be true when it comes to Casino Games. Horse racing is a different animal, Literally.  Most casino games are strictly games of chance, with a few exceptions. There are ways to learn and study the Horse game, which gives you a better shot.

I am in the minority when it comes to ranting about the takeouts, mostly because your only recourse is to not gamble on the Ponies in the first place. The PK4 especially is a wonderful play against the takout, due to the fact that ONE large hit makes up for many misses.

Long run profit in the horse game is about setting limits and sticking to them, which is difficult to do when your first starting out, but gets better with experience. It's certainly not impossible by any means.

I don't think horse racing is that much of a different animal.  Sure, being a skilled handicapper and bettor helps and increases your chances.  But, I don't care how good you are, sooner or later the takeout catches up with you.  As horse players we say the takeout is only 15% on this bet, but that would be considered a suicide takeout anywhere else. No matter how good you are, there are so many variables, long losing streaks are inevitable.  You can set all the limits you want and stick to them all you want, but how do you know you are setting the correct limits to maximize profit.  The limits can hurt you as much as help you in the long run.   The idea that being "disciplined" will result in success is appealing, but not necessarily true.  With all the time I have spent around the track I have known some big and successful bettors who were killing them for years.  They all, every single one of them, eventually busted out. You can beat the game for a month, a year 5 years ,10 years, but forverer--no.

[Just Saying]

I've posted this before:

60 Minutes did a profile of a guy that was supposed to be the most successful professional gambler in the US. When asked about betting horses he said the biggest mistake horse bettors make is betting every race. He might read several programs and only bet 1-3 races total. The guy did tons of capping work on everything he bet. The most surprising thing he said was that professional hockey was the best bet, because Vegas books don't know much about hockey... they don't handle much of it so they don't bother to study it. He said that a team might lose their world-class goalie that was their biggest asset, and Vegas wouldn't notice, so he would load up on the underdog.

I laughed when they asked him what his biggest score was, and he said, "I told the IRS it was $300k."
 

[NIATROSS]

I am having a hard time beleiving the author of the article.
Uless he is playing the penny slots NO way does he will have $90 left after 20 mins of play after starting with a $100.
Races go off about every 15-20 mins with an avg of 20% takeout vs 9% for the slots he says.
How many pulls with the slot player take in thoise same 15-20 mins ? More than 1 I am sure.

[Jeremy]

I am having a hard time beleiving the author of the article.
Uless he is playing the penny slots NO way does he will have $90 left after 20 mins of play after starting with a $100.
Races go off about every 15-20 mins with an avg of 20% takeout vs 9% for the slots he says.
How many pulls with the slot player take in thoise same 15-20 mins ? More than 1 I am sure.

I think that he wrote it to brag about his win.

[LVGaryD]

Somewhere on here I called for takeouts to be lowered to 5.26 %- the same house edge that casinos enjoy on  roulette.

I believe it would eventually break casinos.