DG:
This is an ok letter in my opinion but you fail to state the crux of the problem in racing, the high cost of the game. Takeout averages 20% whereas sports betting is only 4.5%. The house advantage in blackjack is only 1% for the good players. The bottom line is this game will continue to lose customers until greedy horsemen, track owners and other management start paying attention to the people that pay their way, the bettors. Some owners feel we should pay for their private parties, these people should move to Dubai. Every study out there have shown that a decrease in takeout will increase handle and what do horsemen do, they want to increase the takeout so they can take their short term profit and to the hell with the rest of us. Why is it that CA bettors can't get a rebate that is offered on YOubet, because of the greedy bastards at the TOC. Why did KY stop testing for milkshakes? They couldn't publish the results. They should just build slot machines at these places and just let us bet on Hong Kong races. They bottom line is this, you have greedy track owners(Magna, CD, NYRA, Del Mar all included), greedy horse owners(always complaining that they lose money, then get the fuck out of the game if you're losing money), greedy politicinas, dirty trainers and an aging fan base. This does not bode well for the future(but Stronach spent over half billion so far!!!). There will always be horse racing but we will probably end up with something like SCAL for part of the year(the racing is really bad) and NCAL for the rest of the year with only SAR being the meet. Well enough rambling.