Forum Replies Created
- Posts
Late to the party on this one so apologies if I’m repeating people but this is all another consequence of the machines really. That’s where recent media attention surrounding problem gambling and violence in shops stems from. So in order to look like they are doing something, the government will swing the axe on adverts. I know they don’t advertise machines on TV (not to my knowledge anyway, and they can’t even advertise them in their own windows now) but they are the reason we are having this conversation.
But certainly if it is banned, it all has to go in my opinion. Horses, football, lottery, bingo, the lot. No grey areas or loopholes.
Anyone who disagrees with the TV Licence for whatever reason is free to turn their television off and stop paying it. Racing isn’t very popular, Matt LeBlanc and Top Gear are. The licence fee is better value than a Sky subscription which is a damn sight more expensive and still full of repeats and adverts. (I am aware that we can’t put out new programming 24/7 but ‘endless repeats’ is often an argument used against the licence fee)
The non-means tested Winter Fuel Allowance courtesy of our government is similarly ludicrous
Trouble is, means testing is tricky, divisive and encourages deception; doling out wedge regardless of means is easy
That and they’ll never take stuff away from the old folk until we can get the younger generation off their arses to vote in the same numbers the elderly do.
Utter farce that a billionaire gets that sort of cash but doubtless it will continue in or out of the EU.
Contrary to popular belief, Ryanair et al don’t actually ‘fleece’ people. You aren’t forced to pay £god-knows-what for a stale sandwich or to jump queues. Anyway, why anyone would want to spend longer on the plane I don’t know. Turn up to the airport with the right size/weight bag, a boarding pass and your passport and they wont charge you a penny more.
On topic, sounds like a convenient excuse to me but who knows. Can’t be bad for those will pick up the horses.
I’d guess they’d say why travel over there to take on an O’Brien good thing.
I quite agree, they probably would. They would then probably whinge about prize money when 2nd in that Irish race is worth more than winning anything on offer here today. Even 3rd was £8k. Yes there’s a bit of cost getting over there but if we are talking about the bigger owners/yards that shouldn’t be an issue.
Are there not one or two jumps trainers/jockeys who occasionally head across the Channel? No harder to get to Northern France than Northern England if you are located dahn sahf.
The fourth trained by his son and fifth by him again. All with basically the same owners. How is that beneficial to anyone bar those involved? Wouldn’t touch that with a barge pole as a punter. Does it put trainers off as well? Don’t see why it should.
Is there a clear signal given that the stalls are about to open or is there an F1 style random short delay once everyone is ready? Not much excuse for getting it wrong if you know when the gates are going to open, although no doubt we’d hear them all, pretty difficult to enforce if it’s random.
Having jockey or stalls handler removing them are surely both equally open to abuse if you look at it from the integrity angle.
Even discounting ITV4, 40 days live on a mainstream channel is still something fans of most sports would bite your arm off for. I say fans because the powers that be of certain sports can hardly complain about coverage when they sold their soul to the pay TV devil. If you can’t people interested in racing with that level of coverage you never will.
What do other sports get on free to air? 2 weeks of Tennis (plus Davis Cup if Britain are playing). Rugby Union gets Six Nations and World Cup. Cricket is long gone, right after a fantastic 2005 Ashes IIRC. Boxing very occasionally crops up on 5 but is essentially gone although you can sell a big fight on PPV. Golf is now recently fully departed although for years it was only the Open and half of the Masters but that’s probably all most people wanted to watch.
If we can get people watching Cheltenham, the National, Royal Ascot and the Classics perhaps we should be happy.
Aren’t they preaching to the converted advertising racing on the racing pages of a racing paper? If you’re looking at the RP, chances are you’ve either bought it or are in a bookies. Surely it would make some deal of sense to advertise racing in the sport section at the back and vice versa (although admittedly I guess the reverse doesn’t happen much, haven’t read it in ages).
They seem to have this idea that we will a) punt on anything that moves and b) have endless money for said punting on anything that moves which I assume is the logic behind the advertising placement.
Don’t really see the fuss about whether it’s on the main channel or ITV4, it’s all free to air which is a damn sight more than most sports get.
You say that bookmakers are “battling against ever more skillful punters” But is that true?
My guess is yes there are more people clued up than before, but the reality remains that the majority of people who bet on sports and horse racing are still long-term losers.
Of course should FOBTs go the way of the dodo there would be an army of low/zero skilled punters needing to get their fix somewhere. Sadly that place would probably be an online casino or ‘Lucksin Downs’. Was in a Coral the other day and they have cartoon football now
EDIT: Just spotted this, I don’t really understand what’s gone on here but seems relevant somehow.
Perhaps Mr Hunt doesn’t see racing having much of a future on terrestrial, will BBC or 4 want it back if ITV cock it up/ it doesn’t prove popular? His BBC radio work seems to be well received and that will always be there.
Personally I have never used an FOBT and never will but I believe strongly in choice – what about personal responsibility?
That’s a point that’s often missed. Nobody forces anyone through the bookies’ front door or to put a fag in their mouth or to do anything else. Certainly nobody did the first time. I am ashamed to say I’ve lost more than I should have on FOBTs in the past (thankfully I’m over it and wont be going back) but I always accepted that it was my fault.
As Gladiateur says, the science bit was interesting but otherwise its just the same things being said by different faces. This whole debate is going round in circles. Highlight for me was the casino owner calling FOBTs ‘immoral’
Surely in spite of all their big-race wins the biggest underachievers, by far, given the amount that they have invested are the Maktoum family?
In a similar vein, Mr O’Brien can often have 3 or 4 runners in a big race. I could tip that many per race and I’d get loads of winners but it wouldn’t make me a good tipster. I’m not belittling him, clearly the guy is very good at what he does and the vast majority of us couldn’t do it in a month of Sundays but does he really warrant the amount that some racing media are up his backside? Or is he in fact still overachieving relative to the vast resources he has available to him?
Probably too late but a heads up that Paddy are giving a fiver free tennis bet for every (singles) match won if you have 25 win or 12.50 e/w on mens outright. Only need to make quarters for money back in bets and even Murray gets you your cash back if he makes the final (he’s 2/1 half odds 1,2)
Just for the record, I was only commenting on the concept or arbing in general. Nothing specific to LS or indeed anyone else.
Presumably it is in theory possible for one to do one’s absolute brains with a particular bookie when arbing but make a large profit elsewhere to profit overall. In reality I guess it more or less evens its self out though.
