NYRA Bets Late Pick 5 Whitney bonus a life-changing opportunity

through their NYRA Bets account and OTB’s throughout New York State.

Traditionally, the payout size is based on the amount of money within the betting pool that can, at times, be sizable, sometimes attractive, but not consistent.

NYRA decided to change that and reward the golden ticket, the NYRA Bets customer, the single bettor who came up with the perfect combination for the final five races, creating minimum payouts of $150,000 on weekdays, $300,000 on Saturday’s and this Saturday, and $500,000.

“What we’ve done is create an environment for New York horse players and for NYRA Bets customers to get a tremendous overlay and really a life-changing score with a little bit of luck and some good handicapping,” Allevato said. “It’s really paid off for what it’s doing for NYRA Bets and what we’ve seen with the payouts compared to the late Pick 4, which overlaps the same four races.”

While still early in the Saratoga season, as of Thursday there has not been a single-ticket winner of the Pick 5 during the first 12 days of racing, but there still have been some happy bettors.

“We had a customer the other day that opened up an account on Sunday, first-time opened account, played a ticket, a woman a New York resident, she hit for $37,000 Allevato said.

There was some common thinking on her Sunday selections as she was not the lone Pick 5 winner, eliminating the single-winner payout bonus, but because of her decision to sign-up for a NYRA Bets account combined with her selections, she went home a big winner.

By comparison, the Pick 4 ticket played on Sunday afternoon with four correct winners of the first four races of the final five paid $2,500.

Another attraction for the NYRA Best Late Pick 5 is that the base bet starts at 50 cents, compared to a $2 Pick 6 ticket. Bettors can play more combinations and create a better chance of winning with a smaller investment.

Saturday’s final five races are also packed with four stakes races and the initial race of the Pick 5, the 6 Furlong Maiden Special Weight race includes five horses that were purchased for more than $200,000, giving race fans more information for the first leg of the Pick 5.

“Whenever you have a Pick 5 that is going to have those kinds of races with stakes horses they are going to have a stronger opinion on those races than races with maiden horses that they’ve never heard of,” Allevato said. “It allows the fan that is playing the Late Pick 5 to bet with more confidence.”

Saturday’s promotion could be the most memorable play for one lucky racing fan.

“I think that for years horse racing has gotten so caught up in ‘How do we give people a chance for $10 million, $5 million and the truth is that average person that comes to the race track is happy to win,” Allevato said. “If they can win $1,000 they’re ecstatic, $50,000 they’re going to go nuts, $150,000, $500,000 that’s life-changing. We don’t need to make is so complicated or impossible to make it like a lottery-type bet.

“In the end what we’re doing is not the lottery, it’s a game of skill where it’s nice to have a little luck go your way, but it’s a very different thing that we’re offering.”