Excerpt from Barry Meadow’s book Secrets of the Pick Six:
"Having a big bankroll is crucial to Pick 6 success for several reasons. Among them:
1. You have the dollars to play the big tickets
2. You can withstand the inevitable losing streaks
3. You can survive till your next year’s tax refun
The last-named problem, rarely discussed in gambling literature, is quite serious for major Pick 6 players. Let’s take Sammy Sixx, who plays nothing but the Pick 6. He bets $2000 every day, regardless of whether there’s a carryover (he obviously hasn’t read this report). He bets 20 days each month.
Forgetting the fives for the sake of simplicity, let’s say that in January Sammy hits two Pick 6’s totaling $42,000: in February he hits three more totaling $51,000: and in March he hits three which equal $47,000.
Now on the face of it, this is not so bad. He’s bet $120,000 and gotten back $140,000 for a $20,000 profit for the first three months of the year. However, the government takes 25% off the top as withholding for any ticket paying $5,000 or more on a 300-1 play. And some states demand additional levies. Sammy’s state of New York, for instance, grabs another 8% for withholding. Now look at Sammy’s cash situation: | Month | Bet | Collected | After 25% WH | After 33% WH | Cash Flow | | Jan. | $40,000 | $42,000 | $31,500 | $27,997 | -$12,003 | | Feb. | $40,000 | $51,000 | $38,250 | $34,000 | -$6,000 | | Mar. | $40,000 | $47,000 | $35,250 | $31,333 | -$8,667 |
Despite having won $20,000 in this three-month period, Sammy actually has $26,670 less in his pocket than he had at the beginning of the year.
You can see that you need a large amount of capital to stay in the game--even when you win.
Now it’s possible that Sammy may get back most of this money next year--but it will probably be 12 to 18 months before he sees any of it. Not only has he granted the government an interest-free loan, but chances are that he’s had to borrow money just to stay in action--at a higher interest rate.
One dubious thrill of life in the Pick 6 lane is when you win a bet but lose money on the play, then have taxes withheld from your nonexistent winnings. Let’s say there’s a three-day carryover and you plunge for $7,000 in the Pick 6. You hit, but it pays only $5,000. The government doesn’t care. You get just $3,600 net. It seems the racetrack is one of the few places where you can actually be taxed on losses."
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