Why Racing Continues To Be In Trouble

I put this image on the homepage lastnight not sure which thread to hyperlink to though?

Titch Wrote:

---

> Would you reckon that racing is any more "corrupt"
> than Cricket or Soccer? the answer is quite simply
> no...anywhere that there is an opportunity to have
> a bet there will always be certain elements that
> will try underhanded ways of shifting the odds in
> their favor,however of the 3 mentioned there can
> be little doubt that the racing industry spends by
> far the most money in policing this scourge and
> trying to eradicate it....


Titch,I have to admire your tireless self medicating feelgood therapy mate.
The racing industry does indeed spend vast amounts money on its regulators(NHA costs)..........just a pity they receive inadequate value for it.
The country spends a fortune on our police force,with similar results!
I also find find that the belief that racing is OK as long as it is not the most corrupt form of wagering,to be disingenious
Horseracing ,by its nature and the huge amounts of money involved,requires strong regulation...........surely that is not debateable!

www.racingforchange.co.uk/downloads/libr...ing-2015-summary.ppt

given the demographics are different for SAF but I think the application should be the same - see the second last page.

SAF seems to be at the end of a two-edged sword - 1. their current customer base distrusts/is disenchanted by the delivery of the product (note, not the product itself), and 2. the ones falling into the bracket of 'not buying the product and why' don't even know it exists.
What is racing in South Africa collectively doing to address this?

Don thanks for that link (tu)

so,yes please do send a task force to Aus and Japan and HK to see how they do it, but that same task force will find that the country already possesses all the resources - including human, it needs to pull it together. All it needs is for the RA, Phum, GC, Racing SA and perhaps NHA to agree together to start an initiative of educating the SAF public using the media and PR - as to the heroes of yesterday, the heroes of today, who the industry players and role models are - what the life of a thoroughbred in South Africa is and how they compare to the greater global racing industry. This will get them hooked and fans will be borne. Feed them with information on a weekly basis updating how our runners are doing and make them want to be part of something proudly South African.

Come on! it can be done!!

Sorry Justanotherpunter... can I ask what your original gripe was or is it corruption in general in SA racing? Anyone can answer of course...
I would like to comment irrespective of the original point though. And I write this not to offend any South Africans please keep that in mind, if my words do offend anyone then I apologise, genuinely and sincerely, in advance. I am merely writing what I am about to say to help matters...
Corruption in SA racing to me is not the problem. The problems are country problems not racing specific problems. 1. There is not a big hard work ethic in SA, a lot of it seems to be 9 to 5 and get me out of here... be honest, how many times are you astonished by the "complacency" of someone who should be there to help you in any given industry? Why should racing be any different? 2. Because of certain political decisions in SA, there are a lot of people in jobs they are simply not qualified to do, and worse still, they will never be qualified to do. Why should racing be any different? 3. Customer service was mentioned by someone, sadly this is an aspect of business on the decline worldwide, they are increasingly hiding behind Terms & Conditions which they know very few people read and leaves the customer with no avenue to complain. In most businesses now they refuse to permit complaints to go further than the customer services desk who are probably given notes on how to respond to each catagory of complaint but under no circumstances should they pass it upwards, just say "I can't do any more for you". Why should racing be any different? 4. There is a corruption mentality in SA as a whole. The number of wheeler/dealers there is extraordinary. The number of con artists incredible. The number of people who manipulate the truth staggering. Why should racing be any different?
These are no doubt just some examples. I am not overly harsh on SA racing, though as some may have noticed occasionally I am infuriated, but I can't see many of racing's problems being sorted until the country's problems are sorted. Regarding corruption, I think it just goes too deep and sorry to say I suspect there are too many involved. It may be a small minority as I believe some have claimed, but if it is a small minority then it is still significant and it only takes one to change a whole race. Only those who know can bring those to blame to justice but to do so they need proof and proof on this type of things seems incredibly difficult to get.
On a more positive note, what is great is that you have quite a few people on this forum who are heavily involved in racing and I think we who use this forum are incredibly fortunate to have them and their honesty. I only wish there were more trainers, owners, tipsters etc who came on here and made themselves accountable or simply joined in... a little word on the winner of the first today would have been most welcome for example!! It is exactly this type of forum that can save racing, and sometimes we do take them a little for granted. Excuse me for singling you out sir, but what an absolute credit Craig E is to his sport, no doubt in general, but specifically here in terms of the input he gives us. The abandoned Greyville meeting the other day being such a good example, he continuously updated us and for the most part only got moans and groans in response... I don't know for sure but I suspect Craig had runners going so who would justifiably be more annoyed at the meeting not being held? Total respect. Anyway, maybe invites could be issued to other trainers etc to join the forum, may have been done already, and if there is a decent build up of people then maybe the lords that be here can charge a small subscription fee which could be ploughed back into racing rather than their personal coffers...? And now my brain and fingers are tiring so you'll all doubt be pleased to know I'm now ending here... until chapter 2!

The reality is that the token positions given to ppl in sa business has to exist because of that koksukker verwoed,racing is no different

Hi Englander,

I really don't have the energy right now to give a full reply to everything that you have written,although I do think most of your points are extremely valid.

I have really digressed from what really got me started on this thread,which actually stemmed out of someone asking why the staff of the racing operators were not allowed to post on this site.It just got my blood boiling and turned into a thread that I wasn't really aiming at.

I started playing live poker about 1,5 years ago,and have met a lot of new people from all walks of life.Obviously we are interacting in a gambling environment,so when they discover that I am involved in horse racing the inevitable questions about the crookedness of the game always come up.As much as I have explained the measures that are taken to try and prevent skullduggery,and also emphazised that I actually think sport is much more crooked these days,these people just won't buy it.

It's this that led to me posting about the rules pertaining to jockeys and how it is policed in this country.It's not a specific dig at jockeys,but more just an example of what is actually going on in the industry as opposed to what those that run racing try to portray things as.

I'm also sick and tired of being treated like crap.I'm just_another_punter,but how many other justanotherpunters are there out there feeling exactly the same as me.The operators are always barking on about finding new customers to bring to the game,but they don't even give a semblance of attention to those that are already here.And if you're a racing punter in this country it's almost certain you are a stayer and that you have been in the game for 20+ years.There is very little new blood coming in,and so how is the game going to survive unless it gets new customers who punt.You can dice it however you please,there is no game without punting revenue.

The pools look healthy,but I have enough of an inside track to know that they are being driven by foreign money,and that foreign money gets in @ discount prices,so it really isn't as rosy as it may currently look.

The racing operators seem to consider this a site full of rambling idiots who haven't the slightest clue what we are on about.The reality is that many of us have been the customers of this industry for a very long time,much longer than most of this management have been around.A little acknowledgement might go a long way,and just maybe as the long suffering customers it may pay to listen to our gripes every so often,it may actually help find a few solutions.

I registered on this site 5 years ago now,and I think the only response from the racing authorities that has ever been received is to say that they won't respond.

Every so often my blood starts boiling and I have to let it all out,but I think 5 years is long enough now and I am finally ready to give up the ghost.I will continue to punt on racing,it is how I make my living,but these days I support the open bet as racing clearly does not value my business.

Well done guys,you have successfully chased another customer over the horizon.

I might be biased but your contributions are world class and even our original concept to follow Betfair IMVHO has been surpassed by the quality of posts on ABC, the fact that we remain "outlawed" is shocking!

We have given so much inputs and valid contributions to the racing industry in SA, I live in hope that one day we will be accepted as part of the solution rather than the problem.

Dave your inputs on customer satisfaction are valid, to deal with eg a government dept here as opposed to the UK is in FACT chalk and cheese.

One last point when I do have the chance to talk to the "powers that be" is that I insist that the people and posters on this forum are not my customers but potentially their's