A great deal of things have changed since those days, but not necessarily for the better. The vig is no longer negotiable and the only betting you can do legally is via the state. I understand what you're about to say, you are not betting through the country, but rather through the race track. That just isn't true. The state permits the track and the track acts as their agents, but it is the state that determines what the vig will be and what the laws and principles of gambling will be.
Some people do not believe you can make money betting on the races. I've been asked many times,"Can you really make a living Betting on horse races?" I say you can, if you treat it like a business and work very hard at it, but you do not have to take my word for it. A branch of the federal government of the United States, the IRS, has forms for reporting winnings along with a way to write off expenses, just like other businesses. You may write off losses but you better keep very good records, just as you should in any business.
The most common bet you will be learning how to place is the lay bet. This is a type of bet that can only be found on betting exchanges and not with the traditional bookmaker. By placing a lay bet on a horse, you're betting on the odds that the horse won't have the ability to win the specific race that it is running on. The opposite sort of bet would be the back bet, where you bet on the specific horse winning the race.
As an example, once you're driving down the street, just getting distracted and not paying attention for a couple of seconds can result in disaster. You may pay attention for 59 minutes and 50 seconds of the hour, but get distracted for 10 seconds and you may get in a horrific accident, may even kill yourself or someone else. That may seem like an extreme example, but the simple fact of the matter is, it's the little mistakes we make in life that often lead to our failures.
You're probably smart enough, but do you have the tenacity and self discipline and commitment? There are a number of traits that make you successful in life and the same ones that make you successful at other pursuits will serve you well at the horse races. First and foremost is tenacity. Even when you lose, and you'll lose often, you have to come right back and handicap another program and work at it harder. Some people just give up and that may not be a bad choice for them.
It's not your job as a punter betting on horse racing to work out why a trainer strikes well at a track. Just use the statistics to your advantage, since they do not lie! Let's follow these false favourites and revel in winning their money.
Fourth on the list of things I have learned is that racing and betting are insidious and can slowly take over your life and result in losing your objectivity. After a while they seem more significant than others and the rest of your life. Don't let that happen. The majority of our lives, the meaningful components, takes place away from the race track.