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In the town where I do most of my betting, a company called Oak Amusements have successfuly gained a licence to operate as a bookmaker in the High Street.
The windows of the shop are covered, in the old style, with the exception of a best priced football proposition. Inside, they show no horse racing or greyhound racing. There are no terminals or screens on the wall. There is one forlorn looking woman reading a cheap novel behind a dirty trade counter awaiting something to do.
In the centre of the shop there is a terminal which lists the events you can bet on. You can bet on South African and American Racing, football and a range of other sports, some extremely obscure.
It’s a dismal looking place, reminiscent of an old sixties turf accountants. All it needs is the blower and the fag ends on the floor.
So. Why is it there? How did they get a licence? What is the purpose of Oak Amusements? They’ve allegedly got a ten grand limit on bets and, I’m told, you try and put a lumpy bet on a football match and they’ll turn you down. I’m also told you cannot place accumulators either.
Why is it there? You guessed it: Four FOBT’s lined up against the far wall.
Existing arcades (Sun Valley, for example) cannot offer FOBT’s. They can offer a hundred fruit machines, but no high payout FOBTs. To offer FOBT’s, you must be a licenced bookmaker.
Existing bookmakers in the town – two chains and a popular independent – have objected to the licence on various grounds and are continuing to do so. Apparently the sports betting/foreign racing is the "In" which qualifies the enterprise as a "bookmaker", hence the granting of a licence.
The company behind Oak Amusements are registered in Malta.
Aside from thinking the dark figure of Ralph Topping must surely be rubbing his hands, I wondered whether there are any similar "pseudo-bookmakers" around the country?
Max , greetings
Many moons ago Zorro suggested that there would come a day when betting shops would be mini casinos , there would be a parting of the ways , horse players would bet elsewhere
this was a wise and very far seeing view,which I agreed with , that time is now fast approaching , old codgers like your good self will just have to get with it or go somewhere else , the landscape has changed whether we like it or not, bookmakers have found a new captive audience , roulette bettors , they find the machines more attractive and fast moving than racing , and also they like cartoon racing and feel that the randomness is fair , because like it or not . they actually think its fun ….
Horse racing is an old and antiquated regime , still moored in its own swamp , paralysed by its own lack of leadership ,sectional self interest, and weakened by the new marketing gurus that is racing for change …
We can not move forward until we have a tote monopoly , funding racing like other countries do ….until then it will just die slowly , at best remain a niche product for the very rich like it used to be over 100 years ago
Until then dream on
Ricky
We can not move forward until we have a tote monopoly , funding racing like other countries do ….until then it will just die slowly , at best remain a niche product for the very rich like it used to be over 100 years ago
Ricky
Why? Why do people think the answer to racing’s problems is a tote monopoly? The tote as a betting medium is RUBBISH.
Why do people think the answer to racing’s problems is a tote monopoly? The tote as a betting medium is RUBBISH.
You just answered your own question.
- Total Posts 17716
Why? Why do people think the answer to racing’s problems is a tote monopoly? The tote as a betting medium is RUBBISH.
Maybe the answer to Racing’s problem is not the same as the answer to the punter’s. In the long run Racing needs to be less, not more, reliant on the betting public.
Why? Why do people think the answer to racing’s problems is a tote monopoly? The tote as a betting medium is RUBBISH.
Maybe the answer to Racing’s problem is not the same as the answer to the punter’s. In the long run Racing needs to be less, not more, reliant on the betting public.
Well, I’ll not argue with that racing needs to be less reliant on gamblers. I think the problem with advocates of a Tote monopoly is that they can’t think of anything better.
I’m not going to suggest any of my ideas for alternative funding because they’d get dismissed out of hand.
I’m not going to suggest any of my ideas for alternative funding because they’d get dismissed out of hand.
I wouldn’t have thought that AC – I’m sure if there is merit in any of them there will be people on here who would spot it and say so.
Maybe the answer to Racing’s problem is not the same as the answer to the punter’s. In the long run Racing needs to be less, not more, reliant on the betting public.
Yep. Bring your own apples and water. Reminisce with the three other racegoers about the mythical Newmarket two year old double while you wait for Frankie and the boys to reappear from somewhere deep in the Suffolk countryside.
Do not
have a bet!
Racing as it should be.
I’m not going to suggest any of my ideas for alternative funding because they’d get dismissed out of hand.
I wouldn’t have thought that AC – I’m sure if there is merit in any of them there will be people on here who would spot it and say so.
Right o. Let’s start with this one: Those Kauto Star/Denman scarves (not to mention the Imperial Commander edition as currently wrapped around my neck) were quite popular weren’t they?
I seem to recall NTD complaining that the IC scarf didn’t make any money for him, the owner or racing in general. The phrase ‘image rights’ was mentioned.So why not ‘replica’ gear sold through the BHA? Who wouldn’t want a genuine replica Stewart Family silk? Zenyatta memorabilia did a roaring trade at the Breeders Cup.
Racing Post Photos sell jigsaw puzzles, mugs, t-shirts, the works. They aren’t marketed at all but with a little promotion, I think they could be a little moneyspinner. Kids love ‘tat’
Let the scorn begin.
Greetings, Ricky. Hope Lady Luck flashed her eyelids at you over the pond. Provocative as ever, I see.
Right o. Let’s start with this one: Those Kauto Star/Denman scarves (not to mention the Imperial Commander edition as currently wrapped around my neck) were quite popular weren’t they?
I seem to recall NTD complaining that the IC scarf didn’t make any money for him, the owner or racing in general. The phrase ‘image rights’ was mentioned.So why not ‘replica’ gear sold through the BHA? Who wouldn’t want a genuine replica Stewart Family silk? Zenyatta memorabilia did a roaring trade at the Breeders Cup.
Racing Post Photos sell jigsaw puzzles, mugs, t-shirts, the works. They aren’t marketed at all but with a little promotion, I think they could be a little moneyspinner. Kids love ‘tat’
Let the scorn begin.
My brother bought me a t-shirt with ‘The Carter Show’ on the front this week but I can see that might not have general appeal
On a serious note, I’ve often wondered whether owners silks should be abolished and replaced with stable silks. That would certainly make it easier to market the ‘replica kit’.
Edit: it might make more sense for jockeys to have their own colours with their name on the back from the replica kit point of view.
Max , trouble is there is a shortage of real posters who can and would reply in real cogent terms ,,,sadly you havent bitten the cherry ….as I had hoped …Life is good , am off again next week …so I cant share your minimum value races on the sand in Southwell et al
Is Mr Roy still in situ ?
cheers
Ricky
old codgers like your good self will just have to get with it or go somewhere else ,
I’m just forty six. Most of my own teeth, continent, a semi-functioning pink plasma pistol and plenty of my own hair left. Give me a break…
Seriously. Your entire post ignores several things we’ve discussed on the board while you’ve been away. The demise of horse racing has been greatly exaggerated by bookmakers keen to avoid the Levy, and people like your good self, who have a vested interest in turning people away from horse racing with persistent messages of doom, and into pastimes like, er, poker?
Many moons ago Zorro suggested that there would come a day when betting shops would be mini casinos , there would be a parting of the ways, horse players would bet elsewhere
I recently spoke to two of the four bookmaker managers in my home town about the impact of the Big Freeze, which you probably missed. Both of them confessed on the QT that they need horse racing to get people to visit, though they are not encouraged to say so. Without horses, these places are empty. People don’t make a special visit to play FOBT machines – at least not in sufficient numbers.
That’s where Oak Amusements and overseas parasites like them will fail.
You’re a fan of Sean Boyce’s much missed blog, I know. He writes far more eloquently than I can about the importance of horse racing to both bookmakers AND your beloved exchanges. Bookmakers and exchanges aren’t arguing that. They are arguing about the
price,
not the product – (the vapid and truculent Ralph Topping excepted)
and also they like cartoon racing and feel that the randomness is fair ,
Never met anyone who has had more than a quid or so on the cartoons. You’re throwing red herrings about here. I’ve met compulsive gamblers and addicts who play – the same people who play FOBT’s – but no-one "ordinary". Not even the head offices of major chains make grandiose claims about about cartoons. They are, what Mark Coton called, "visual noise", distractors, to tempt and to obfuscate.
Horse racing is an old and antiquated regime , still moored in its own swamp , paralysed by its own lack of leadership ,sectional self interest, and weakened by the new marketing gurus that is racing for change …
I partly agree with you here, though, unlike poker tournaments, attendances at tracks are up in both Britain and Ireland. There are signs that more people actually bet on horses last year in the shops.
You ought to enjoy your poker this year, Rickster, because the good times aren’t going to last.
until then it will just die slowly
Nah, racing is too good, Ricky. The product itself is robust and interesting, diverse and renewing and has survived wars, famines and pestilence since the seventeenth century. It’ll survive Topping, Chandler, Oak Amusements, underpaying exchanges and the madness of the Coalition.
Get up close and watch three backed horses drive for the line, just like you used to when you loved the sport. There’s nothing like it. Last Sunday at minimum value Southwell – the old sandpit. West Leake Melody, Ryal and Granny Anne, in near-darkness, rain falling down in black sheets, bitter cold, the crowd baying, not a length between them at the line.
Sublime, a moment of great beauty.
There are temporary problems of course, but rumours of the death of horse racing are – and have always been, as I said earlier – greatly exaggerated.
Have a great time in Vegas.
Yours,
Max and all the Paddock Gang at "Minimum Value" Southwell.
I will never allow my son(if i have one) introduce to horse racing ala a gamble if these machine become a regular occurance.
These things are destroying people. Its no different from the mob running un licensed gambling.
- Total Posts 17716
Bring your own apples and water. Reminisce with the three other racegoers about the mythical Newmarket two year old double while you wait for Frankie and the boys to reappear from somewhere deep in the Suffolk countryside.
Do not
have a bet!
Racing as it should be.
Lovely autumn sunshine with a few fleecy clouds…
A civilised chat with those three friends as to whether Frankel’s Son or Dream Come True will win the Dewhurst Stakes, sponsored by nobody but worth £1M to the winner….
No oiks to disturb the peace waiting for a pop gig to commence whilst floating themselves in cheap foreign lager…
Room to get a corner table for lunch with course views in the Loch Fyne Oyster Bar…
You make it sound paradise regained.
Sign me up for Honorary Membership.Some excellent posts on this thread already.
I have taken a bet of £100 win on a ‘horse’ in a cartoon race. The punter is one of those who needs to bet big to get a buzz. It won @ 6/1 by the way.
It’s interesting that the betting shop continues to evolve.I have seen one in Welwyn Garden City that offers a choice of their odds or Ladbrokes odds and I have seen a few Better Bet shops in London on prime sites which have nice facilities and give away tea and chocolate bars. I don’t see how the Better Bet shops can make a profit though.
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