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Based on current racing at Sha Tin, all races have a reasonable number of horses per race with prize money per race ranging from £50,000 to £180,000.
This is much better prize money than in the Uk. Prize money in France is also much better than here. Both countries have a state Tote monopoly whwre punters are treated as supporters of racing and not cash cows.
Is it not time we kicked out the bookmakers for our horse racing and let them concentrate on slots?
No! Having “choice” and “freedom”, even if it’s only one sixteenth of a point, is far more important than the future of the sport.
Well, we can all see what the problem is: gaining one-sixteenth of a point is more important than the future of racing.
The reality is that both racing and punters would benefit from a properly run state Tote monopoly. Set it up as it was before privatisation and set the deduction from the win and place pool at 10%. Reduce the deduction from all other pools to 15%.
Punters having at last a fair chance of winning would bet more than they do now. Without a change, racing as we know it is doomed.
I agree with the sentiment of this but:
a) You can bet on the exchanges at close to a 100% book rather than your proposed 110% but as far as I know (I don’t have any figures) volumes matched continue to decrease significantly year on year.b) “New” racegoers, like the 18-25 brigade due to arrive en masse at the Friday Night All Weather spectaculars have little to no idea about over-rounds etc. I don’t think it is this that prevents them from betting.
I think we just have to get used to the fact that betting on horse racing is no longer as popular as it once was, for a variety of reasons, and I personally don’t see any way of changing that.
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