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A typically thought-provoking and hard-hitting piece in the Guardian today from Lydia Hislop.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/20 … orseracing
Plenty of good suggestions, with which few would disagree.
Excellent stuff, can’t disagree with any of it.
Also good to see the word ‘obdurate’ given an outing.
The Guardian online coverage of racing is the best there is by some way imo. Greg Wood, Eddie Fremantle (his live blog is better than than the RP’s), Lydia Hislop, Chris Cook and Ron Cox all provide wide ranging, topical and interesting coverage of the sport. Fastcards which are very printer friendly, plus the Oddschecker and Sporting Life engines without the bells and whistles for live racing make The Guardian racing section a real hidden gem imo.
Why shouldn’t there be exchange terminals at racecourses? This modern betting form has attracted a new wave of interest and should be fostered, not suppressed. Bravo to Ascot for being the first to embrace it.
It will impact on bookmakers, but the innovative will find a niche that exchanges can’t fill. Why artificially preserve “bookmakers” who act merely as brokers between on-course punters and exchanges? Those who actively rip off novices with uncompetitive terms such as 1/6th odds each-way have hastened their own demise.
The unpalatable alternative is more customers staying home, where they already have access to both exchanges and bookmakers. Terminals sited to facilitate in-running betting would give an edge to going racing.
1) This wouldn’t just “impact” on on-course bookmakers, it would finish them off completely. That would mean reduced revenues for racecourses in pitch fees and reduced levy for the sport.
2) It would mean the number of people who had a large time advantage betting in running would increase significantly – this would probably force Betfair to address this issue (I don’t know how though) rather than sweeping it under the carpet as they currently do.
Surely the levy shortfall would be made up by a new generation of in-running players’ premium charges. Or it would if BF paid levy on premium charges. They declined to answer my question whether my horse racing PCs helped the levy in any way.
Quote – 1) This wouldn’t just "impact" on on-course bookmakers, it would finish them off completely. That would mean reduced revenues for racecourses in pitch fees and reduced levy for the sport.
Not if the racecourses charged the provider for siting the terminals and if the levy deducted from teh exchange operators was modified to compensate.
I cannot see how having Betfair terminals at racecourses will finish off the racecourse bookie.
Sure their are different ways to bet, I know of one person who uses Betfair on his mobile but has a friend who uses on course bookies.
Some people may put bets on before they leave,others may use Tote Credit yet the majority will stick to Tote and Bookies for the conveniance as i cannot see thousands of people walking around with Blackberrys and Fancy Mobiles trying to get £2 on.
A very good article by Lydia who always writes well and has never im my mind written a poor piece of work in her life.
The point is that people won’t have to wander around with their Blackberries though. In providing not only betting terminals but a Betfair lounge at Ascot, they will pull a lot of the big players out of the ring and onto the comfy sofas in the Betfair lounge. I agree fully with TDK, this is a massive nail in the coffin of oncourse bookmaking.
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How many people who go to racecourses are there a) for a day out with the family, b) for a day out with the lads (or indeed the girls), c) because they simply like racing, or d) to bet seriously?
I go racing a lot with my father and grandfather and, whilst both like a bet, they couldn’t give a monkey’s left nut about Betfair. To be honest I’d be impressed if either of them could find their way to the site at all, let alone set up an account and trade to a sufficient level to warrant the use of a course-based station.
Are Doris and Elsie, or Bert and Trev, going to be scything through the crowds to get first crack at the 1.54 available about Master Minded for the Champion Chase? I’m going to be brave and say no, and my guess would be that a majority of racecourse punters are of a similar mindset. They want their £2, £20 or maybe even £200 on, and they want their slip to tuck away telling them how much they could win.
Now, I also go racing with a few mates, all of whom like to think they’re the dog’s danglies when it comes to betting. Three of them actually work for various bookmakers, so tend to take what they do fairly seriously. However, with ale in hand and racing only minutes away they’re never left thinking ‘damn, if only we had immediate access to Betfair’. Why would they need to? It’s hard enough getting to the bar and back in time to source the best board price, let alone throwing elbows at inconsequential no-marks who think they’re ‘it’ just so that you can use a purpose-built internet terminal.
I’d love to see 60,000 on Gold Cup day making a dash for the ‘Exchange Zone’ twenty minutes before the race.
The option already exists for people to bet through the exchanges if they want to, both on and off course. If people going racing bet beforehand then we’re no worse off, and if they bet on course then it’s merely extra competition. Perhaps it might bring back the ‘glory days’ of 1/4 and 1/5 place betting, though I doubt it. Off course bookmakers have been generally accessible for a while now owing to the fact that minimal communications technology is required to contact them (you need a phone, basically, or a phone with WAP or GPRS if you want to be really fancy), so how much would actually be changing if a computer connected to Betfair were made available?
The sooner a deal is done to get exchange terminals installed at racecourses the better.
How can the sport expect to evolve without them?The "in running" terminals is a good idea in principle but I cannot see them working in practice.
Betting is currently spread over a thirty minute period before the race. "In running" betting by its very nature only happens during the race.
How many terminals would be required to meet demand?
Who would pay for them?
If there were not sufficient terminals to meet demand, how would punters be stopped from hogging them? If they were hogged how would the issues of angry punters queuing be dealt with?
Notwithstanding the practicalities of exchange betting on-course, a really good piece by the excellent Lydia and agree with nearly all of it. Just having a big screen at all meetings would be a big step forward (Uttoxeter! Hereford!).
[quote="Equitrack"
I go racing a lot with my father and grandfather and, whilst both like a bet, they couldn’t give a monkey’s left nut about Betfair.Are Doris and Elsie, or Bert and Trev, going to be scything through the crowds to get first crack at the 1.54 available about Master Minded for the Champion Chase? I’m going to be brave and say no, and my guess would be that a majority of racecourse punters are of a similar mindset
Very brave "Equitrack"! seeing how you are portraying two older generations, who have probably been betting for decades via hand written
betting slips! Doris probably spends most of her time knitting shawls
and her friend Elsie heads the W,I.Bert and Trev probably pop down to the allotment and fetch Doris one of his prize Marrows before enjoying a bit of
tea and tiffin with the gals. They then set off to "Bangor" in the Wolesley!.
If you are the Tote, consider employing an unbiased professional gambler as advisor. That’s the kind of consultant who will help devise popular bets, not some city type who thinks an hour in a betting shop qualifies them to pronounce on What Punters Want.
I hope that rather cringeworthy Harry Findlay feature has’t gone to Lydia’s head. “Unbiased” is the key word here. Professional punters will suggest things that are good for professional punters – i.e they like pool bets like the Scoop 6 where they can play into pool with plenty of “dead” money, while having features like the place dividend which will take some of the risk out of their mega-perms. What is good for them isn’t necessarily good for the sport (although admittedly they would probably come up with better ideas than the quite awful Super 7)
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