Is The Matrix wager the bet of the future?

New and innovative horse-racing wagers are rare but Churchill Downs has announced it will begin offering on Wednesday “The Matrix,” which gives bettors a package of all 15 win, exacta and trifecta plays on three horses for a minimum of $9, which works out to 60 cents per wager.

Bettors—who can bet as much as they want over the minimum—will receive three win bets, six exacta bets and six trifecta bets, and will collect if any of the horses win, if any two finish one-two, and/or if the three finish one-two-three.

"It's like a Value-Pack of bets," Tom Aronson, senior vice president for Churchill Downs Inc., was quoted as saying. "Even knowledgeable players can get a little confused sometimes about how much a variety of bets on the same race might cost them, especially if there are boxed exactas and trifectas involved."

The Matrix bet will only be available on-track as Churchill weighs its popularity. The track recently dropped its over/under wager in which bettors were given a set number and then decided if the top-three head numbers combined in a race was higher or lower than that number.

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