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Minus Pools
A minus pool occurs when a horse takes such a disproportionate amount of
money that after the TAKEOUT
is extracted, there is not enough money to pay the
winning tickets the minimum wager ($2.10 in most racing jurisdictions). The
track and or the OTB must then make up the difference. Most minus pools
occur in the show pool but also can be found in the win and place pools. In
most cases when a probable minus pool may occur the track will eliminate show
wagering or in rare cases even eliminate place wagering. In very rare cases a
track may exclude all wagering on a particular horse that track management
believes will cause a minus win pool. Whenever a horse is barred from the
wagering its finishing position is ignored as far as the mutual results are
concerned. The barred horse is racing for purse money only. Example: horse #3
is barred from all wagering and finishes first. The order of finish is #3
finished 1st, #7 finished 2nd, #2 finished 3rd, #5 finished 4th etc. The mutual
results would read 7-2-5 and #7 would be declared the winner as far as the
payouts are concerned but #3 would receive the winners share of the purse.
The math behind a minus pool would look something like this. Total win pool
is $250,000 with #3 receiving $236,000 in wagers. After an 18% takeout that
would leave $205,000 to pay the winning tickets. 205/236 = .868644. By law
the track must return a minimum of 1.05 not .868644. 1.05 * $236,000 = $247,800
that the track must payout which would create a minus pool of ($247,800 -
$205,000) $42,800. Don't feel to sorry for the tracks because this seldom
happens and in reality the track just didn't receive its full takeout on this
rare occasion.
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