Were the races fixed? It seems like she was assigned to place bets on very specific horses. Was the goal to bet on all major long shots just in case they came in? That seems like a losing proposition -- betting huge sums on horses that have little chance of winning, on the premise that the payouts will be smaller on the rare times that one of them does win.
So I'm guessing the races are fixed, and Bobo knows which long shots are going to win.
Like they said at the beginning, she only needs to lower the odds on the longshots. Remember that she gets in trouble when Bobo notices that the boards didn't move one day. That's how he knew she didn't do her job. If the races were fixed at all, this is not addressed in the film.
shareWhatever the odds are at the track, this is what the bookie will pay off.
If someone put down a huge bet on a longshot at the bookie, this will not
change the odds and if it hits, he will lose a lot of money.
So she goes to the track, and bets some money on longshots (sometimes they win)
and this lowers the odds because there's more money in the win pool on the longshot, so if it comes in, the bookie has to pay less out.
I think she only bets on the longshots, when someone has placed a large bet on
that particular horse with the bookie. She is not doing this on all the longshots, as that would not make economic sense.
So in a way, the bookie is laying off part of the bet.
1. He has to pay lower odds if it hits.
2. She will have some win tickets if it hits and most of that bet will be covered.
Thank you. I always wondered what that was all about.
You want a toe? I can get you a toe, believe me. There are ways, Dude.