New York's Penny Breakage Makes 'Cents' for Bettors

They may not be pennies from heaven, but the New York Racing Association has embarked on a new payout format that makes "cents" for bettors. The era of penny breakage on payouts at New York Thoroughbred and Standardbred racetracks began Sept. 1 at Saratoga Race Course for NYRA and is now resuming at Aqueduct Racetrack. The change from nickel breakage to penny breakage explains why there are $2 win payoffs at the Big A such as $5.54 instead of $5.50. The added 4 cents may not seem like much, but for a bettor who collects $1,000 a month in payoffs and averages an added 2 cents on each bet it will mean an extra $20 a month or $240 a year in found money. "It's not a windfall but it's something that adds up over the course of a significant number of transactions, and that's a good thing," said Andrew Offerman, NYRA's senior vice president of racing and operations. "This was an effort that was started before I arrived at NYRA and is something that is player friendly." While New York previously had nickel breakage for most payoffs, on larger payouts the breakage could reach as high as 50 cents. Under the new regulations, all bets will now be covered by penny breakage. "We had a weird, funky breakage model but now it's uniform," Offerman said. Making the changeover easier is the way online wagering has dominated the betting landscape, creating no logistical issues for penny payoffs with electronic accounts. "The old breakage was kind of an outdated practice relative to the fact that not every single transaction involves a person with cash in hand. It's advantageous to the customer, and we think it's the right thing to do relative to the way that the industry continues to move forward," Offerman said. Given speculation that the penny might become obsolete in time and the high cost for banks in rolling and distributing them, there could potentially be a logistical problem in having enough pennies on hand. But Offerman said having tracks in Kentucky and Washington with penny breakage already in effect, as well as sufficient time since the new format was approved, has allowed NYRA to build up a reserve of the coins. So, for now at least, there's no need for bettors to bring their piggy banks to the Big A. "Thanks to the time we had in the summer prior to implementation, we had the ability to save pennies and build up our own reserve to handle Labor Day at Saratoga and bring them back here to Aqueduct," Offerman said. "It is becoming more difficult to obtain pennies from banks with the talk of phasing out pennies and the costs associated with collecting them, rolling them, shipping them. It's a lot more than a penny. So we'll have to live and learn and see how it goes, especially at Aqueduct where fans are more likely to cash a ticket after every race than they are at Saratoga."