Woodbine Lowers Takeout On Triactor Wagers

Woodbine Entertainment Group announced earlier this week that they will be lowering takeout on triactor wagers when the new thoroughbred meet begins on Saturday, April 2nd, by 2%. The new takeout rate on triactor wagers will be 25%.

For new horse racing fans who may not know, a triactor wager is a bet where fans are asked to pick the top three finishers of a race in correct order. The takeout rate is the money kept by the track before winning bettors are paid off. Woodbine will now be keeping 25% of the triactor pool, as opposed to last season, where they took 27%. The 25% figure includes 5.3% in provincial and federal taxes and levies.

This will be the second consecutive year that Woodbine has lowered the takeout on triactor bets. The takeout rate for the 2009 season was 28.3%, before being lowered to 27% in 2010.

"We understand how important takeout is to the horseplayer," said Sean Pinsonneault, WEG's Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer in a news story on woodbineentertainment.com.  "We believe this additional reduction in the triactor takeout on our live Thoroughbred racing will bring even greater value to our customers and allow us to be even more competitive in the betting marketplace."

Woodbine already offers a low takeout rate on Win-Place-Show wagers, 16.95%, so the decrease in the triactor takeout is taking steps to become a quality track for horseplayers. Woodbine already has some of the fullest and most competitive fields in thoroughbred horse racing.

While the news is a step in the right direction for Woodbine, they still may be able to do better. As blogger Cangamble points out in his post on the matter, "Woodbine is still tied for 27th when it comes to lowest triactor takeout rates out of 69 tracks." It would appear there's still room for improvement to get closer to tracks like Churchill Downs and Keeneland, who offer 19% takeouts on triactor bets.

Posted in: Woodbine