Rebates (Thoroughbred ADW) - Helping players find the best possible rates... a free service from JCapper.com
Rebates can affect your bottom line in a very profound way. Aside from discipline, the ability to execute a game plan, a willingness to roll up one's sleeves and go to work...
every single professional player that I have met in the past 10 years shares one other thing in common...
All of them... every single one... earns rebates.
What are rebates? And more importantly... how do you get them?
I'm a full time player and handicapping software author. I do not operate an ADW - nor do I have a financial stake (ownership interest) in an ADW.
I do, however, have a number of very solid and reputable industry contacts who are extremely knowledgeable when it comes to navigating the
maze that track operators have created in an effort to keep you from finding rebates.
As a service to JCapper customers... prospective JCapper customers too...
If you live in an eligible state, meet min handle requirements... starting at as little as 3k per month... and want the best possible rates given
your handle and state of residence...
Call or shoot me an email... I would be more than happy to put you in touch with industry contacts who will:
- Evaluate Your Situation.
- Absolutely help you find the very best possible "home" and rate schedule available on the market today given your situation.
It goes without saying that the context in which I am using the word "home" here means a 100% legal licensed North American parimutuel ADW.
Jeff Platt
jeff @ jcapper . com
(remove the blank spaces first)
858-766-0255
Full disclosure: If you take me up on my offer, once you are signed up and start earning rebates, I receive compensation in the form of a referral fee.
Rebates Explained
Recent industry estimates put total rebated handle at just over $2.5 billion a year. Final all sources handle numbers for 2009 haven't been reported yet. But best guess industry estimates are in the ballpark of $12.5 billion... meaning that as much as 20 percent of all thoroughbred handle is now rebated handle!
Rebates, in theory, are a volume discount.
Let's say for the sake of argument that a large player typically bets $10,000 a day. Let's further say that our player
has negotiated a deal with a rebating ADW... the letters ADW are an acronym for Account Deposit Wagering company.... For the sake of
argument let's say that the agreed upon rate schedule between our player and his ADW calls for a rebate of 10 percent.
How does this work?
Our player bets $10,000 on Saturday. When he logs into his ADW account the next day, Sunday... he sees that his ADW has credited his account in the amount of $1,000... 10% of the previous day's handle.
Our player can use that $1,000 to wager with... or withdraw... It's real money... a volume discount or cash incentive handed to him by the ADW - used to attract (and hopefully keep) his business... which at $10,000 a day works out to more than $3 million a year if our player bets horses every day.
Rebates - Eligibility Based on Handle
I mentioned that rebates are, at least in theory, a volume discount. Historically, only the highest volume bettors have been offered rebates
by the industry.
CDI/Tracknet has a long standing policy for ADWs carrying their track signals: In order to qualify for rebates, the player
must meet Tracknet's min handle threshhold... The player must be betting at least $1 million annually.
$1 million a year in personal handle is a lot. It breaks down to an average of about $4,000 a day if you play almost every day. Not too many bettors churn at that kind of level.
But that doesn't mean you can't get rebates if your own personal handle is less than that.
The 1$ million a year min handle floor is for Tracknet signals only.
The ADW market space is very competitive right now. If you are
betting any kind of serious handle at all... as little as $3k a month and up... There are ADWs carrying independent track signals
that would LOVE to compete for your business by offering you rebates.
Rebates - Eligibility Based on State of Residence
In some states, most notably AZ and CA for instance - rebate eligibility is precluded by state law.
In AZ, the tracks and horsemen decided that they would be better off trying to force players to show up and bet on track. So they backed a
bill which became state law in September, 2007... making it a felony to wager on a horse race online or by telephone.
The attempt backfired. Instead of showing up on track, many players simply stopped betting on horses altogether.
In CA, the tracks and the TOC decided that capping the amount of money an ADW could keep at just 6.5 cents for every dollar wagered through
the ADW would have an effect. The desired effect would be the ADW would have no room margin-wise to rebate anything back to the customer.
So the TOC and track operators in CA successfully lobbied the state legislature and got their wishes written into law.
With rebates no longer a viable option for the player based in CA, track operators and horsemen hoped that players would return in numbers
to bet on track.
That hasn't happened. What has happened is that players in numbers have recently become more and more aware about player unfriendly policies
of track management and horsemen's groups like the TOC... At the same time handle numbers in CA continue to trend downward.
The bottom line?
If you want rebates you first have to prove residency in an eligible state. After that, you have to meet min handle requirements.
From there, language found in individual signal contracts between tracks and ADWs determines the wholesale cost of the track signal...
which in turn determines how much an ADW can reasonably afford margin-wise to rebate back to you the customer.
Historically, ADW operators have been the ones trying to win your business through innovation... by offering things like rebates,
free past performances, conditional wagering, high quality video, and free handicapping contests.
At the same time, track operators and horsemen have generally been the ones seeking to drive signal fees and takeout upward... in the process making it
more and more difficult for players to find rebates. Many track operators would love nothing better than to do away with ADWs entirely and
force players to show up on track and bet into high takeout.
If you think I'm making that up... In January, 2008 I interviewed the President and CEO of a prominent California Race Track about Tracknet threatening to withhold track
signals from the racebooks in Las Vegas. When the conversation turned to rebates he told me on the record and with a straight face no less...
"Show me an ADW that can afford to rebate anything back to the customer - and I'll show you an ADW that isn't paying enough for the track signal in the first place."
Sometimes something called a "source market fee" comes into play... This can impact your rate schedule depending on whether or not your physical
residence is within a track's "source market" area.
A source market fee is language that tracks and horsemen introduce into signal contracts designed to drive up the wholesale cost of a wager
so that ADWs have no room margin-wise to rebate anything back to the customer. CA and VA are examples of states where track operators have gone so far as
to lobby their state governments to pass legislation making source market fee part of state law where the statute defines the entire state
as the track's own "source market area."
It goes without saying that players unfortunate enough to reside in a track's source market area can face an extremely difficult time finding rebates.
Because of specific language contained in the hundreds of individual track signal contracts
... Rules for rebate eligibility covering every possible situation are complicated... I won't even try listing them here.
But I CAN simplify it for you. I'll start by providing a list of "ineligible states."
If you are betting between $3k and $15k per month and you live in one of the following states:
Alaska, Arizona, California, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Missouri,
Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah,
or Virginia... You live in an ineligible state and would not be eligible for rebates.
If you are betting at least $15k per month and you live in one of the following states:
Arizona, California... You live in an ineligible state and would not be eligible for rebates.
If you live in an ineligible state and you really DO want rebates, you would need to move to a different "eligible" state and establish
residency there first in order to become eligible for rebates.
If you can prove residency in an eligible state and meet min handle requirements you are eligible for rebates.
If you live in a foreign country, you may be eligible too.
Rebates - Helping players find the best possible rates - a free service from JCapper.com
I'm a full time player and handicapping software author. I do not operate an ADW - nor do I have a financial stake (ownership interest) in an ADW.
I do, however, have a number of very solid and reputable industry contacts who are extremely knowledgeable when it comes to navigating the
maze that track operators have created in an effort to keep you from finding rebates.
As a service to JCapper customers... prospective JCapper customers too...
If you live in an eligible state, meet min handle requirements... starting at as little as 3k per month... and want the best possible rates given
your handle and state of residence...
Call or shoot me an email... I would be more than happy to put you in touch with industry contacts who will:
- Evaluate Your Situation.
- Absolutely help you find the very best possible "home" and rate schedule available on the market today given your situation.
It goes without saying that the context in which I am using the word "home" here means a 100% legal licensed North American parimutuel ADW.
Jeff Platt
jeff @ jcapper . com
(remove the blank spaces first)
858-766-0255
Full disclosure: If you take me up on my offer, once you are signed up and start earning rebates, I receive compensation in the form of a referral fee.
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