Chuckles,
You touch upon a few interesting points.
Because putting on a day of races is a very expensive proposition the takeout can never compete with casinos.
So it's not the high takeout that bothers me as a player, but the fact that I don't think I'm getting my money's worth.
To that end, I would like to see the takeouts at tracks specifically targeted to specific expenditures.
And part of that targeting would be to the upkeep of the backstretch community. The truth of the matter is that many of these employees are foced to live in third world conditions, and I certainly wouldn't mind seeing one percent of the takeout I pay to the NYRA devoted to improving the lot of these folks.
But I don't think the takeout would need to be raised, just better allocated. And that's what a "targeted" takeout would do, provide a more transparent look into where the money is going.
And if at some point down the line the NYRA could prove to me that they needed an extra percentage point for a specific program (like to insure the jockey's against injuries, or to put new housing up for the grooms, or to put new plasma tv's throughout the track plant) I can accept an increase as the cost of maintaining a first class operation.
But long before we got to the point that the on-track players had to fork over a higher takout, I think the numbers would make the case that track operators are selling their simulcast product for way below real cost, unsustainably below real cost.