Del Mar gains approval for jackpot-style pick six
Del Mar will offer a jackpot-style pick six, with a portion of the pool dedicated to the holder of a single winning ticket, at its 15-day autumn meeting from Nov. 11 to Dec. 4.
The track received approval of the newly structured wager at Thursday’s California Horse Racing Board meeting at Los Alamitos.
This is the first time a Southern California track has offered a pick six bet with a jackpot provision, emulating a similar bet popular at Gulfstream Park in Florida.
Del Mar will dedicate 70 percent of the net pick six pool to tickets with six winners, 15 percent to tickets with five out of six winners, and 15 percent to a single ticket holder. If there is more than one ticket with six winners, the jackpot portion will carry over to the following race day. The entire pool must be distributed on closing day.
In the event there are no tickets with six winners, there will be a carryover to the following race day. It is highly likely there will be some days in which the pick six has two carryovers – a conventional overnight carryover and a carryover in the single ticket jackpot.
The minimum bet will remain $2. A similar bet at Gulfstream Park has a 20-cent minimum.
Track officials told the racing board that the new structure could “greatly enhance the wager.”
“The pick six needs a little boost,” said Del Mar’s chief operating officer Josh Rubinstein. “It’s one of those things you hope it carries over and on the final day, there is a big payoff.”
In the last decade, pick six pools have declined, with bettors focusing on 50-cent pick five and pick four bets. Pick four pools on weekends typically surpassed $1 million at the track’s summer meeting.
This is the second change to the distribution of the pick six in as many meetings at Del Mar. At the summer meeting earlier this year, 85 percent of the net pool went to tickets with six winners, or into a carryover, and 15 percent was dedicated to tickets with five winners. In past years, the distribution was 70-30.
Rubinstein said pick six pools were largely unchanged at the summer meeting compared with past years.