Bigger pools, bigger payouts???? There will also be more WINNERS so payouts won't change but goodbye best tote and just watch the takeout go up. Less competition always means you pay more. Just go to your local supermarket and look at the price of cabbages:-)

The likes of you and I have probably be around longer than some of the others Crash. You can't tell 'em sometimes. Whenever has less (competition) mean more (for the punter). Never, ever & it never will!!

Explain to me where you get less competition from?

If you refer to best tote then yes that may change but i am sure the online services will come up with somthing new to attract the punters.

You always have the option of best fluctuation the tabs are not now and never have been in competition with each other, when you are in a Tab you have no choice to where to place your money.

the tabs do not rely on the stay at home punter for business and you tell me how many stay at homes have accounts in different states.

the racing industry needs change and if one tab is what it takes then lets get it on.

you only have to look overseas at the industries in those countries to see what one tab with do and they don't have half the options we do with online betting.

Which bookies pay best tote? I'm at IAS (amoungst others) but wouldn't mind changing. I could investigate this myself i suppose, but if someone has an answer i'll be happy. Secondly the price of cabbage is absolutely ridiculous, nearly as bad a Bannannanannnaaannna's.

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I like Bing Lee.

Just about all of them offer the service best to do a search for them i refer Sportsbet because they offer best of 3 for city meetings and best of 2 for provicial and country but take a look around you will find one you like.

When three tote pools become one Shaun, that's less competition.

While it may have been the case in the past, the totes thru mobiles but mainly the internet are increasingly in competition with one another. In fact it is only thru the internet that the tote operators have been able to grow, or more precisely maintain, there revenue levels (they have for some time being losing market share).

Can't answer for others, but I have four tab accounts & I know of others who have the same or @ least three accounts.

Alright, I might not be the average punter (I don't frequent tab's or pubtabs for one thing) & operate from home but IMO it will be all punters who will lose out under a national tote operation.

Just name me one industry where less competition has been good for the customer. I don't know of any. Remember Telestra when it was known as Telecom, when it had little or no competition?

Just as an aside: close to where I live there is an Aldi store, which as you may know sell groceries & other household goods very cheaply. One item they sell is bottled water for 65 cents for 1.25 litres. The nearby Coles & Bi-Lo used to sell the same sized bottles of water for 82 cents (before Aldi opened) - no more they don't, it's now 65 cents. Five kms away is another Coles, with no competition from an Aldi store & they still sell the same bottled water for 82 cents. Repeat that for hunderds is not thousands of items & it makes a difference to the weekly grocery bill.

That's why competition is good, that's why having the option of three totes is good - it's called competition!!!

I understand exactly what you are refering to and yes in some ways you are correct but since i have turned all my betting activity to the internet and away from tabs i no longer use my tab accounts unless i am after an exotic bet not offered.

The online services of other sites a far better than the tab would ever offer so why use the tab, IMO there are two kinds of punters, online punters and offlines punters..

To use the situation you put forward with the supermarkest there used to be good competition from the smaller chain of markets like supervalue, foodland and what ever else your state has over here in the west it is "Action" these stores have been losing out to the big boys for a long time because of the market share so instead of trying to compeat in there own market they joined together to create IGA this is nation wide and alowes them to buy at a cheaper price to offer a cheaper price.

The tabs are trying to buy each other out right now and when somone owns them all they will relise it is in the best interest to make one Tab it is not a matter of IF it is just a Matter of WHEN.

Gday all

now i might be a bit dull, but having one TAB.. wouldn't that mean that there would be only one 18% take out instead of 3... Wouldnt that necessarily mean (if the pools combine) that the divs have to be bigger on average? AS i said I am a bit dull tho.. Ofcourse the takeout maximum would have to be protected by law to stop the single tab from screwing the punter..

For the record... I like having 4 tote accounts and getting the best tote price, much of the time... sometimes it doesnt work out that way with the small pools tho.. they sometimes move dramatically at the death and I sometimes get caught with less than best tote... but I guess thats life..

I still use the totes because I do like a bet on Vic Racing and Betfair doesnt bet on Vic Racing... and looking at some betfair markets at times the fancied runners are nearly TAB or Corporate prices anyway

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Good luck and good punting

xptdriver@hotmail.com

You can always open up an account (if you don't have one already) with a corporate bookie, such as Sportsbet, that offers a best tote product.

As an example race 2 @ Moe today the winner Homeland Sheila paid SP $6.00; Top Fluc $7.00; Unitab $7.10; Supertab $8.70 & Racetab (NSW) $13.20!!

Why is there three takeouts of 18% (actually the overall takeout is 16%, but the takeouts from the various pools differ, e.g. 14.5% from the Win pools, 21% from the Trifecta pools)?