Keeneland more giving in takeout

LEXINGTON, Ky. – For the second time in six months, Keeneland Race Course will open its race meet with new takeout rates in place. But this time around, the silence greeting the decision is golden.

Last fall, the betting community was in a near-unanimous uproar over Keeneland’s decision to raise rates for nearly every wager it offered. With the decision earlier this year to restore lower takeout rates in some pools for the spring meet that starts on Friday, bettors have largely retreated from calls to boycott the track’s races, even though many of the higher takeout rates are still in place.

Bob Elliston, the track’s vice president of racing and sales, said on Wednesday that the track is optimistic horseplayers will shelve their grievances for the spring meet, citing the health of the local economy, the quality of Keeneland’s racing, and the impact of new tax rules that are highly beneficial to horseplayers who play in pools that still have the higher takeout rates.

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More importantly, Elliston said, Keeneland may have regained some horseplayers’ trust because track officials “kept our word” that the takeout hikes would be evaluated after the fall meet, when wagering dropped 8.7 percent.

“We’re hoping horseplayers jump back in the pools in a major way,” Elliston said.

So here’s the good news: Win, place, and show rates have been cut back to the historical 16 percent rake, down from 17.5 percent in the fall, while the exacta rate has been cut to 19.5 percent, down from 22 percent last October (though still a half-point higher than the historical rate).

But here’s the bad news: Trifectas, superfectas, and all multi-race bets with the exception of the pick five will remain taxed at 22 percent, up from 19 percent prior to last year’s fall meet. The pick five will remain at 15 percent, a rate that was implemented at the same time that Keeneland jacked up takeout rates last October.

Mike Maloney, a professional horseplayer who lives in Lexington, said Keeneland “deserves credit” for restoring some of the lower takeout rates. And he also stressed that the restoration of the lower rates was important for horseplayers because it broke a cycle in which racetracks across the country have implemented takeout hikes over the past five years without reducing the rates when handle dropped as a result.

“So often in this industry you see tracks comparing their takeout rates to other tracks, and all that leads to is higher takeout rates,” Maloney said. “But they can’t keep comparing themselves to each other. The way we move the industry forward and accomplish all the goals we want to accomplish is to start comparing ourselves to the rest of the gaming landscape, and until we recognize that our pricing must be competitive with other forms of gaming, handle will remain stagnant.”