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Hi chaps,
http://www.racingunited.co.uk/
Just in case you don’t know, there is now an online petition to government created by Racing United regarding the shrinking Levy.
Everything is explained on there so I won’t repeat it, but you can sign the petition online: It takes two minutes.
I’m composing a letter too: I’ve got Drone’s picture of the evil Ralph Topping as a screen saver to give me determination and inspiration. The more the merrier!
Get signing!! Let’s help protect this wonderful sport of ours.
I still cannot understand why racing appears to be putting all its efforts into preserving a broken system.
Chris Spencer-Phillips’ piece at the back of this month’s Owner & Breeder is the most sensible suggestion I’ve heard so far as it engages all the other sports on which money is bet which currently don’t receive a penny of that betting turnover.
I entirely agree with you, Tuffers. Unfortunately, we are all at the whims and caprices of the BHA and they are not (in public, at least) interested in any other funding mechanism. Just the levy.
So what do we do? The only course of action open to the sport and its adherents right now is to persuade the government to ensure that the many betting operators who benefit from British horse racing pay their contribution. Many are not doing so.
Admittedly, an online petition isn’t the most explosive weapon in the armoury – but its all we’ve got at the moment.
Unfortunately, we are all at the whims and caprices of the BHA and they are not (in public, at least) interested in any other funding mechanism. Just the levy.
Max, you’ll excuse the brevity (I’m clearing my desk to attend the Londinium meet) but that’s wrong. It’s no fault of yours neccesarily, as there has been reems of press coverage and lots of info elsewhere. The fact is that the minister has already announced that the Levy, in it’s current form will go. It’s what we want, it’s what betting wants. Hell, it’s what we tried to do years ago some utterly perverse decision by the ECJ stopped it (with William Hill’s having appeaed the judgement).
Our campaign is on two fronts – one accepts that in the short term we’re stuck with the Levy, so deals with that aspect. The second is based on a suitable replacement. There are a number of options, but the sports betting right (as pushed in the Owner Breeder article) is one we have advocated (and one that is in place in several other jurisdications).
One way to get some extra money is to allow sponsorship at Royal Ascot so the prize money for all the races can come from the commercial sector.
I dont care if it ends up being the Poundland St James’ Palace Stakes or the Johnsons Dry Cleaners Wokingham this is an outrage so see to it at once.
Indeed Neil – I’m sure sponsors would queue up to sponsor at the royal meeting, thus freeing up levy cash for other races.
Hopefully not three runner novice chases though.
Well I’ve read the petition and I can’t support it.
It seems to me that proposals for greater contributions from bookmakers, both traditional and exchange based, will result in a poorer deal for punters.
So for that reason…I’m out.
I can’t and won’t sign it.
Firstly, it is up-to the government to decide now and any backing any individual gives will make no difference.
Secondly, I’m not convinced by “racing’s” case. Racing can’t keep arguing its popularity on one hand when it comes to levy arguments, yet insist RfC is needed for the sport‘s drop in popularity. What is it?
We keep hearing the arguments for increased prize money like it is the solution to all our problems. I’ll ask this question openly – what is the level, on average, a horse should be profitable in Britain? Any answer anyone has I would prefer it to be related to flat horses – easier for me to understand. 70, 75, 80, 85, 90?
Increased prize money increases the cost of buying a horse, which no one discusses. The rich breeding organisations have made a lot of concessions in these times, haven’t they?
And with an increased levy settlement, I bet we’ll see expansive prize money boosts at the top end of the scale that will frankly be unnecessary. £1m to the Grand National winner, £1m to the Derby winner and so and so on.
I doubt racing will see a new fixed system of meritocracy within the Graded/Group/Listed/Class system where prize money is concerned. I touched on it regarding the Fighting Fifth Hurdle on my "no-hopers" thread.
I’m sorry, I can’t see it working for those who probably do need it and probably do keep the show on the road. British Champions’ Day was a sign of things to come…..
That is before I’ve got stuck into the fact that “we” will all be worse off.
Silvoir, I’ve noted your point.
Perhaps I came across as unwittingly dogmatic, but to be fair to me, I’ve not seen a long term action plan and I haven’t a clue as to the BHA’s long term funding plans. You may have seen one: Even the most politically disinterested punter will have read Nic Coward’s prognostications and assumed that the Levy is a shibboleth.
Jose, sign the thing. Then we can argue the toss after we’ve helped to secure the short term sustainability of the game. There is no alternative strategy the sport can present to government which protects the infrastructure in the short term. It might be with a shrug, a disgruntled sense of reluctance, but if everyone signs, the government has to take the proposals seriously. Then we can build.
I think when you take into account when they put this up – as in, too late – and the fact they’ve only got 2493 people to sign, it is pretty depressing. Hardly any people outside of those who work directly in racing have signed. 20000 work in racing apparently????!!!!
And you can’t say they those who govern the sport don’t deserve it. They haven’t done enough for the people who matter most in racing – punters.
A sports betting right is the "right" option if/when the Levy ceases.
But I will thank the BHA for my free book I received today.
FAO Silvoir
The Tote has been issued with a one-way standard class ticket to Limbo; there it waits a lonely lost behemoth looking for a good loving home and access to a highway where it can crank up its gears from low-range crawler second its been stuck in since 1961
Have the BHA and associated acronyms given any thought to its future?
Is this a compelling opportunity – an opportunity that cannot must not be missed – for racing to take control of the Tote lock stock and wheezy-wispy barrel?
Or would you – foolishly unforgiveably – be quite happy for a bookmaker or other outside interest to get their hands on it; outsiders who will take the profit and promise racing no more than a levy-like percentage as a ‘thank you’ for providing the product that produces the profit
And what do you, both as an individual and as the BHA, think about the idea oft raised here on TRF of a Tote Exchange?
1,2…5…years time – ‘if only’ – a familiar and sad phrase
I wont sign it. Why should I support an organisation that doesn’t even recognise me (a punter) as part of racing in the first place?
as in, too late – and the fact they’ve only got 2493 people to sign,
It’s only been up a couple of days. That’s not too bad. And the only reason, I suspect, that the petition is full of racing insiders is that they are the only ones who know about it, thus far.
Also, I only got to know about it from a regular Southwell races circular I receive. I’m surprised – bearing in mind Barry Dennis’s thread about monitoring fora – that I had to publicise the petition on here. Cost-effective (i.e. free) online marketing is the new manna from heaven.
How many fora are they? I would say this one has a hundred and fifty active members and many more readers, judging by the surprising people who pop up (usually when dissed.)
Who is publicising the petition to the MyFacebook Friends of The Racing Forum to the right as you look? Are all the racing insiders now congregating on Sean’s blog publicising the petition on Twitter?
It came out in mid-September. I wrote about it the following week:
http://betting.betfair.com/horse-racing … 20910.html
If racing is "united" why did it need "racing" to sign its petition to prove the point? Instead, all it has achieved, by such a miserly portion of individuals signing, is to illustrate the complete opposite of what was presumably intended.
I am a punter and could object to it on those self-interested grounds alone. But I fundamentally object to it because it is unfair and hopelessly quixotic.
There was far more unity on here on the suggestion that Paul Roy must resign. And yet, bafflingly, we are still stuck with him.
Pru,
Not that baffling when you consider that the only group with the power to remove Paul Roy consists of a three man committee, namely Ian Barlow, Paul Dixon and er, Paul Roy.
Since both Barlow and Dixon came out publicly in support of Roy over the Betfair saga, it would seem that Roy could do a Vince Cable and vote against himself, but still survive in post.
AP
If racing is "united" why did it need "racing" to sign its petition to prove the point? Instead, all it has achieved, by such a
miserly portion of individuals
signing, is to illustrate the complete opposite of what was presumably intended.
I’d argue that was due to a lack of publicity. If it came out in September, how come I didn’t know about it until yesterday?
I’m a punter too. And unlike you, as you state in your rather bleak article, if I was limited to the prospect of betting to 200% with a cigar toting part time pimp with a phat tie and a fedora, I’d still bet on British horse racing because its the best sport on the planet. Perhaps the most undervalued, perhaps the most battered and bruised, but still the best.
I read your article and I know you don’t comment here on stuff you write there, but I would say that I agree with you regarding your long term solutions. Signing this, which you won’t do, might give the sport much needed breathing space.
If, after the government backs racing – perhaps due to the groundswell of grassroots support – Paul Roy continues to ignore us, then I’ll cast aside my optimism and join the cynics.
If it came out in September, how come I didn’t know about it until yesterday?
I think you have to ask yourself that, not us!
I don’t know of anyone who cares about these things who was not aware of it – it has been aired on here besides anything else – but I know myself it can be easy to miss stuff in racing if you turn your back for a day or two.
By the way, the only reason I prefer not to comment on here about articles I have written elsewhere is that there is a comment facility on the articles themselves. The point of writing the articles is to attract people to the betting.betfair site and comments there are one proof that this is working.
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