Tracks still won’t get together and make a concerted effort to invest in software that would transmit betting information instantaneously. How can players have confidence in the overall integrity of the betting pools when odds continue to change when horses reach the three-eighths pole?

There’s nothing wrong with the racing product only with the way it’s presented to current and future customers. Nascar isn’t popular because there are only 76 major races as opposed to racing’s thousands; it’s popular because it does a better job.

For instance, has anyone thought of pooling racing’s resources to buy those same full-page advertising supplements like those car folks do in all the local papers?

Have racetracks made a real effort to service existing customers by providing the latest betting information for informed decision making, as if tracks don’t have a vested interest in the fiscal health of its customers?

Have the tracks done a good enough job lobbying their state houses for permission to do what other businesses do when business stagnates, such as lowering the cost of the product?

Supply-side economics dictates there is a price at which supply and demand meet to optimize profits. Shouldn’t racetracks, like other businesses, be allowed to test its pricing structure to find that level, unencumbered by inflexible and arcane legislation?

“Innovation comes out of competition,” Evans said, referring to the failure of a handful of modern racetracks to continue to survive.

All Evans and other track executives and other state governments need do is look within the borders of the Commonwealth of Kentucky to see what one new track executive, Ron Geary of Ellis Park, did; instituting a new Pick Four wager with a four percent takeout.

On a small scale, this innovation already is beginning to show dividends. Last year, the bet averaged a mere $18,000 daily. On Wednesday, $36,000 was bet into the Ellis Pick Four.

In the long term, price will prove more important than product. As for the product, it’s fine just the way it is.

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