Punters losing interest- How can we stop racing from dying?

hibernia Wrote:

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> Dave you will remember what it was like on a
> Friday in UK shops ,a decade ago you couldn't get
> in the door

20 years ago,you could get a decent bet on in the shops..

The year 2000 was the death sentence of high street bookmakers.When Betfair was launched.
The only thing keeping them afloat and sucking the life out of communities is The Fixed Betting Terminals...
That's why these bookmakers shops pop up in the most desperate,run down areas...

mister a Wrote:

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> on how to fix racing many of the top brass have
> publicly stated that in order for racing to come
> right and get the crowds back racing need a
> champion, so i presume everything is great
> because Louie The King is here, possible triple
> crown winner,, if not then could they please
> shut up on that weak strategy because its not a
> fix

The notion that a "Champion" will bring crowds to Racing is absurd! If there was a Champion Ice skater in South Africa then that would not make me go to find a rink to watch that person. Racing is about betting not Champions no matter what the "Members Enclosure" think hence the growth in punting on any meeting at any time by the R20 brigade - Punters should not be confused with purists - I'm not sure myself what it needs but what I do see is the growing trend of foreign Soccer punters that could provide some respite if they can be convinced that Racing is a betting proposition - Fixed odds is what these people like but how you transfer that to Racing with so many horses competing in a day is difficult. Perhaps a best place accumulator with only three horses in each race and spanning 6 races? These new punters like to know the potential dividends before they bet so the tote would not suite them. I was at Hollywood Saturday an hour before the first and the soccer punters had already taken up half the seats in the Racing section which comprised 3 to 6 punters.

Racing has too much competition now to keep up...dont need inside info for sports betting

'would you rather bet on lotto or soccer that you can trust or racing that you perceive as crooked? '

I dreamt last month that I had invented the perfect bet for TAB: a jackpot where only one selection per race is allowed, and it must be won, so, if no one has all four winners, then it drops down to three, then two, then one, and if there are still no winners, then it's carried forward, as a last resort.

Restricting all tickets to only one selection per race levels the playing field, where the big boys, with their big perms, are scooping the pools every meeting, and the little guy has no chance. The cost of a ticket should be exactly R1, no more, no less, hang the operator's transaction cost, the massive turnover boost, together with the increased publicity, will more than compensate. The big boys can take multiple tickets if they wish, but they will have to take each one as a straight line, tough tekkies.

I called it the 'quad', short for quadrangle, and it will quickly become a household word. It will be on the front page of every newspaper across the country every day (quad pool reaches new record yesterday; four new lucky millionaires made), and the question will be asked everywhere, did you quad today? Parents will name their children Quad (I think I see your problem, Quad,) doctors will use it in their diagnoses (I see you have some quad all bunged up in there,) and it can also be used as a verb (stop it, or I'll quad you alongside the head.) There is no past, present, or future tense for quad, it's just quad, and that's all there is, was, or ever will be.

Bookies won't touch it with their notorious open bet, because the pools will be so massive, and the payouts so humungous, that they will be scared to death of it, and run for cover behind their soccer pools.

To all the readers of this post from big P (you know who you are,) use it, don't use it, your gain, or loss, whatever.

Fluit, fluit, my storie's uit.

We have a the same problem as UK in that apart from the number of betting alternatives to racing there is the ONLINE factor.
Many of the High Street shops in UK are as empty as that Betfred shop because everybody buys online.
My family in England if they want something they phone up for it and it is delivered F O C,within 24 hours.

There is an even bigger problem that has occured in UK Racing.
Over 40% of small breeders in UK & Ireland,in the last 10 years, have packed up due to cost vis a vis profit.
They produce the average runners that make up the bulk of horses racing.
The consequences are that apart from the big meetings they have small fields on a daily basis.
The ones that are really squealing are the bookmakers who see this as a serious sign for the future as obviously big fields are better for them.
The Irony is that our breeders could benefit from this but we have export ban.

to stop racing from dying you need to get rid of whoever is in charge of running it,because to me it seems as if there main objective is to run racing into the ground with the decisions they are making.
they have driven an everyday punter like me right out of the game and while it may not seem much to lose a punter like me,im sure there are many others like me who have become disillusioned with the current state of racing in sunny rsa.

get competent, intelligent educated people to try and fix this mess the current lot have created and maybe just maybe racing can thrive again like in years gone by.i know racing has to compete with sports betting,casinos,the lotto and online gaming,but if the operators want to have a fighting chance, then they need to realise that without there clients(punters) racing will die a very quick death no matter what anyone says.to me its obvious that they need to keep the current punters they have happy and then try to find ways to entice new people to get involved with punting to sustain the viability of there business going forward.

bottom line try to keep your current punters happy by finding out what they want,and then doing everything in your power to fix what your clients(the punters who fund the game at present) want.sounds simple enough,but i doubt the current powers in charge have the will or desire to do this.

thats my take on the current state of affairs with racing in sunny south africa.

As an aside.... My gal and I spent a couple of days away over the weekend...yes, better use of my punting rand. Sunday night we stayed at Golden Valley Casino Resort....had a nice dinner, played some slots and while heading out my chick who is a non gambler and merely tolerates my horse racing spotted the roulette wheel.

Wow, we cashed R40 for a colour....8 chips... and spent 2 hours playing ....my lady was engrossed, fascinated and animated. The only time I have seen her like that about racing is when Via Africa ran recently {friendly wave to Neigh}...my point?? Her and I were playing together, and went back next morning and played some more

So in future....why should I pkay horses in isolation when I can spend time with my partner, same cost...double enjoyment????

Its all on this thread but no one will listen...

The Madji Wrote:

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> So in future....why should I pkay horses in
> isolation when I can spend time with my partner,
> same cost...double enjoyment????

That is an awesome comparison.. Wish i cud try with 40 bucks though. LOL.