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I didnt see another thread on this. Forgive me if i missed it.
As you will have no doubt read actions have been taken to first trial and then fully roll out the changeover from fractional to decimal odds.
This seems like poor judgement to me and almost the act of an organisation who have to be seen to be doing something.
I feel it alienates the existing punters who like the fraction system and are used to it, it also does very little to attract new punters.
I mean realistically how many people are going to see the birth of decimal odds in use and think to themselves "great i must start following horse racing"
Also their reasoning seems to be that the current system is difficult to understand for new punters. Why is it?
Would a person new to betting seeing 0.5 find it any more user-friendly than 1/2? or 3.33 any easier than 100/30?If its such a hassle why not just have a clear list of odds with their decimal counterparts easily accessible at all betting stations and listed in race programmes etc.
I bet online and most bookies offer the option of changing to decimals which i don’t. Fractions all the way !!
When you calculate your 7/4 winnings do you divide by four then multiply by seven then add one or do you just multiply by 2.75?
Racing For Loose Change have called this one right.
When BF started out with decimal odds, you’d occasionally hear people say they prefer fractions or think in terms of fractions, but you’d never hear them say they didn’t understand decimals. By contrast, they often don’t understand fractions.
In fact, some people viewed the only real difference between flutter and betfair was one used fractions and the other decimals. Look how that one went.
To turn on C4 racing and hear Tanya Stevenson saying it’s 2.6 on the machine, "that’s roughly 13/8", as though she’s making things easier to understand, is just a travesty.
This is like trying to fix a frozen starter motor by sending the car to a psychotherapist.
I pray every night for a leader to emerge who’s going to grab the game by the sack. Each day I’m disappointed.
"paulostermeyer" wrote: When you calculate your 7/4 winnings do you divide by four then multiply by seven then add one or do you just multiply by 2.75?
Divide & multiply!!
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If you’re introduced to and taught how to use fractions, you’ll want to use fractions. If you’re introduced to and taught how to use decimals, you’ll want to use decimals. You work with what you know, so who’s to tell anyone what should and shouldn’t be the standard?
Too much is being made of what newcomers are perceived to need and not enough is being done to review, repair and develop the crumbling foundations on which horseracing in this country currently sits. It’s nothing more than ‘Ben and Brian Revisited’, only packaged in such a way as to make people think something worthwhile is being done.
The use of a jockey’s full name, in conjunction with a photograph, to make the ‘stars of the show household names’ is an interesting concept, if only for the fact that it shows an unbelievable degree of naivety. Being able to match a quarter-inch square photograph with a full name does absolutely nothing to make jockeys (and trainers) more accessible if television coverage – terrestrial in particular – doesn’t bring them to the fore. US sports get massive amounts of coverage in this country these days, but how many newcomers, novices or even regular viewers to American Football (for example) could pick Tom Brady or Peyton Manning out of a line up?
It’s a pointless, aimless fringe-tidying exercise which does nothing but divert attention away from the real issues.
With the great benefit of hindsight, it would have been better if this had been introduced alongside the currency decimalisation in 1971.
I’d prefer it if the experiment were to run for a whole week to give people more chance to get used to it,rather than just for a weekend.
Will this alter the way bookies shout the odds i.e. "six to four the field …or one point five the field"
As a 50 year old brought up on fractions I must admit that after using Betfair and others I have got used to decimals and actually opt for them. It just makes it simpler for me, so I agree that this call is right though some of the others are just flim flam
- Total Posts 17716
If you give anything of a monkey’s about odds, the chances are you’re already fairly capable of calculating the decimal equivalent of a fraction (or at the very least you can come up with a close approximation). For those who only go racing every so often and bet as much on a horse’s name as its form, does it really matter how odds are displayed? Are they going to understand that odds in decimal form include an imaginary £1 stake? Are they going to care?
As has been said most online bookmakers give you the option of fractional or decimal odds anyway, but cries of ’15/8′ and ‘100/30’ are part of the magic of horseracing for me and learning their significance is no more difficult than getting use to new and updated rules in any other sport. Are people put off watching football, rugby, cricket or speedway because offside now pertains to the receiving player being ahead of the line of the ball, or because the green helmet has reverted to white?
Slap an ‘Odds to Return’ table – which would allow for a much more frank ’10/3 – £1 returns £4.33′ – in the front of every racecard and copy of the Racing Post and be done with it.
When you calculate your 7/4 winnings do you divide by four then multiply by seven then add one or do you just multiply by 2.75?
This wont surprise you Paul,as its me,but i have done the same thing for over 25 yrs-. say £10 at 7/4,i would work out that a tenner at 2/1 is £30,then i would calculate on my abacus that a tenner at 6/4 is £25,i would then split the difference of £5 which is £2.50,i would then add that to £25 which makes £27.50! Simple as me! God help me when its 15/8 mind! I can remmember years ago,i used to have a £1 lucky 15 and all my selections would have to be whole numbers just so i could work it out!
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But why is it presumed that someone deemed incapable of working out what 15/8 is in real terms is going to be able to multiply their £25 stake by 2.875?
I prefer fractions but I am very much stuck in my ways.
I think this proposed trial introduction will die on its derrier.
It comes back to the old adage: if something aint broke, why fix it ?
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
I prefer fractions but I am very much stuck in my ways.
I think this proposed trial introduction will die on its derrier.
It comes back to the old adage: if something aint broke, why fix it ?
So therefore nothing should change then – no matter anacronistic it may be?
A newcomer being faced with odds of 85/40 just has to grin and bear it and get on with it.
I have introduced many newcomers to the sport and one of the recurring issues is getting people to understand odds and the fractions aspect. Yet when I explaain the concept in decimals they find it a great deal easier.
It is all well and good those of us "in the know" wanting to keep our way of life – it is what we are used to, it is comfortable but when it is an obstacle to attracting newcomers and there is a simpler alternative then why stand in the way of change.
It may well not be broken but when there is a better option why not go for it?
The decimal dummies won’t be smiling for long when instead of odds drifting from 11/2 to 6/1 for example, it would merely drift from 5.5 to 5.6 or 5.7. Yes it would work both ways, but the bookies will still benefit from it, they always do.
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