So the real question does become two questions-- What is the handle on out of state races, and what percentage goes to the track, purse fund, breeding fund etc.
It's no great secret. Anyone can read the racing law, visit the IRB's website and see these numbers for past years, or look at past and present ITHA purse reports to see more current numbers. Various figures about all this have been posted on this forum ever since Janine first started it.
If in fact no one really cares about on track action (both Live and Simo) then does the out of state simulcast revenue bet here in Illinois act somewhat like slots do in some other locations-- ie--supporting a product that there is no demand for??
That's basically the truth, with the small difference that it's actually horse racing, and there's really no part of it that's a tax gift to racing. Simulcasting supports many of the racing programs in the U.S., as horseplayers everywhere are uniformly convinced the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.
