*Post Times are approximate

2008 Takeout Structure:
A wager on a horse race is very different than many other forms of gambling. Horse racing payoffs are calculated on a Pari-mutuel basis. Basically this means that the house (the racetrack) does not care who wins a given race. The odds on each horse to win are determined by what proportion of the total money wagered is placed on that horse. The racetrack handles the money, keeps a percentage or commission, and calculates the horses' odds based on the public's preferences. The remaining money is then paid back to the players who hold winning ticket.

Explanation of Net Pool Pricing

Traditionally prices on pari-mutuel pools in the U.S. have been calculated under the Standard Pricing model, by dividing the gross amount of winning bets into the net pool. The net pool is the total amount of wagers reduced by the commission rate, or take-out. This process returns a fair price provided all wagers were made using the same commission rate. Not all international jurisdictions, however, are allowed by local law to wager into U.S. pools using the local commission rates, and must use the standard commission rate for their locality. They have, therefore, been forbidden from commingling wagers into U.S. pools and alternatively created their own local pools on U.S. races. To accommodate multiple commission rates, the Net Pool Pricing model was created. Under the Net Pool Pricing model, the payouts are calculated by dividing the net amount of winning bets, rather than the gross amount, into the net pool.

Delaware Park, with the approval of the Delaware Racing Commission, is pleased to implement the Net Pool Pricing method to calculate pari-mutuel payoff beginning the 2006 racing meet. Net Pool Pricing allows each jurisdiction participating in a pari-mutuel pool to offer commission rates different than the host track should they elect or be regulated to do so. For example, if a jurisdiction is obligated to use a higher commission rate than the host track, they will have proportionately less weight in the commingled pool than wagers with a lower rate. Therefore, jurisdictions using a higher commission rate offer a lower payout to their customers and the remainder of the network is unaffected. This also would work in the opposite manner should the participant use a lower commission rate, and their respective prices would be higher than the host track.

For most pools and payouts, if all localities were using the same commission rates (and the vast majority do even with internationally commingled wagers), the prices would be identical under both the Standard and Net Pool Pricing models. In any multiple winning runner pool (Place, Show or any other pool in which a dead-heat creates two or more different payouts), the Net Pool model distributes the same amount of winnings slightly differently. This is a function of allocating the profits to the different winners based on their NET winnings rather than their GROSS winnings. The total amount of monies paid out will not change, but the effect, in these cases, is that the favorites will pay slightly less, while long shots will pay slightly more. An additional result of the Net Pool pricing model is that one can no longer accurately calculate the payouts using only the information available on the tote board. This is true for all pools, including the Win pool, because one must know the commission rate of the wagers on each runner in each pool to determine the true NET pool and NET winning wagers. The tote odds continue to be accurate because tote has all of the necessary information to properly calculate and display the current odds and payouts.

Net Pool Pricing has been used in the pari-mutuel industry since the Breeders' Cup was held at Woodbine in 1996. Many U.S. racing jurisdictions, including New York, Kentucky, and Illinois, have implemented the Net Pool method over the past year to accommodate commingled wagers originating in Canada . Those wagering on Delaware Park races will benefit from the larger pools generated by allowing more jurisdictions to commingle wagers. Larger pools provide better wagering opportunities and more stable pools and pricing.