"Here in Las Vegas, typically the hold is in the single digits because they want you to keep betting, and winning and re-betting that money - which they call churn. In horse racing there's a tendency to have very high takeouts

in double digits of 15, 20, even 25 per cent and just the mathematics of that is that it will eventually bust the bankrolls of many horseplayers - and some never come back into our game."

On the heels of his recently published article on lowering takeout, columnist and racing analyst Richard Eng gives his reasons on why thoroughbred and harness racing tracks should be lowering their takeout and, in what he calls a "back to the future approach", renewing their focus on the simpler bets as opposed to the exotics.

"One of the things that irks me about the way horse racing markets its betting products is they have a tendency to push the Pick 6, which in most places is 25 per cent takeout - sometimes 22," Eng tells Trot Radio's Norm Borg. "We've gotten away from some of the meat and potatoes, which should be lower types of takeout. I'm a big fan of win, place and show wagering because that is the introductory level for a lot of our newcomers to get into the sport."

Eng and Borg also discuss the future of exchange betting and fractional betting.

Episode 136 – Horseplayer Richard Eng

Audio Format: MP3 audio

Host: Norm Borg