breakage

When lawmakers passed the New York State budget Thursday, the package included a gift for horseplayers. Starting Sept. 1, New York will join Kentucky and Washington as the only racing states to break payoffs to the penny. However, the bill allows for nickel breakage on on-track wagers, provided all breakage proceeds are dedicated to aftercare funding. It was not immediately clear which tracks would adopt the penny breakage and which would chose the nickel-breakage package. Both NYRA and Gov. Kathy Hochul were supportive of the move to penny breakage. "The...

When the .69-to-1 favorite returned $3.38 to win at Ellis Park in the first race on July 15, the to-the-penny payoffs represented a massively positive paradigm shift for horseplayers. Under a new Kentucky law that eliminates dime breakage at the state's tracks, bettors will no longer be subject to the disadvantageous, industry-wide practice of down-rounding that, in the above instance, would have sliced the return on that winning $2 wager to $3.20. Yes, penny breakage looks a bit odd to the eye. But getting used to the concept will be...

By a vote of 33-1, the Kentucky State Senate has given their stamp of approval to Kentucky House Bill 607, which modernizes the taxation of pari-mutuel wagers and, in a major victory for horseplayers, eliminates the dime breakage than has been the standard for many years in favor of penny breakage. The change in the breakage will put more money into the pockets of horseplayers and is the first such measure to be introduced in the United States. The lone dissenting vote came from Republican Senator Whitney Westerfield. "For more...

Breakage, the practice of rounding down bettors' payouts to the nearest 10 or even 20-cent number rather than paying the deserved amount to the penny, has long been a thorn in horseplayers' sides. Kentucky state representative Adam Koenig, an avid horseplayer himself, is trying to do something about it in his state. Wednesday morning, Koenig joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to discuss the bill he's sponsoring to eliminate breakage in Kentucky, as well as his proposed sports betting legislation,...