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A lot of that profit is now from non racing products but without racing to attract customers would they have made as much money? Therefore bookmakers should contribute to the levy based on their total profits (inc sports, virtual, FOBT, etc.) not just the profit from UK racing.
Take this winter – if there wasn’t evening racing the shop opening hours wouldn’t have been extended and there would be no profit for betting shops from non racing products. Racing has been kind (or dumb) enough to put on meetings in the hope of producing more levy. Unfortunately all it will ultimately do, is lose punters cash to racing.
This is the exactly the problem that Horse Racing has.
Bookmakers make a profit on Horseracing and pay a % of that back to the sport. However, increasingly punters are moving away from the sport and are betting on other sports or FOBTS/virtual racing etc. Has racing got any claim to any cut of the profits from these forms of betting? I can’t really see how it has, but I do agree with Rollo’s point ~ Racing has put on more and more meetings, but is the end result going to be that betting shops are open for longer hours and that punters are largely going to ignore the low quality fare at the twilight meetings and instead sit and bet on the FOBTS?
I obviously work for one of the said betting companies, but my interest has always been in horseracing and sadly I do fear for its future. I don’t think putting on more and more poor quality racing is the answer. The main problem the sport has is competing with other, lower margin, forms of betting which don’t require betting operators to give back a share of their profits to the sport.
There’s far, far more to Fallon than "brute force.
Totally agree. He can also handle them very tenderly when the situation requires.
Isn’t the raison d’etre of that cursed tribe, the media, in being the medium between a subject and those who are interested in it? That’s why I always find it a bit odd when fans, in this case those who have contributed to this debate, register pleasure when a subject, in this case Ryan Moore (although this is now historical), is uncooperative with the media..
It depends on the quality of the questioning imo. If Thommo sticks the mike under a jockey’s nose straight after they have just been beaten in a photo and says "How does it feel fella?", the situation almost demands the jockey to produce a one or two word response.
Similarly, Ryan Moore gave the perfect answer to Richie Persad’s inane question at last year’s Shergar Cup.
"So, have you learnt a lot from the foreign jockeys today Ryan?"
"No"
Quite right. After all, they had been staring at his backside for most of the afternoon….
Spotlight Verdict: Only a two runner race but a fascinating betting heat nonetheless. With many expensive hurdlers achieving next to nothing (other than a fews Ps in the formbook) at Jackdaws Castle, Jonjo O’Neill is sure to be a popular choice with punters. His handling of the top class Black Jack Ketchum last season will have left no-one in any doubt as to what he is (or indeed isn’t) capable of when getting a really good horse. Preference however is for Saeed Bin Suroor (NAP). Once transferred into Godolphin blue, a previously talented and exciting throroughbred can expect to remain off the track, injured, for around 800 days before confirming that it doesn’t retain much of its ability in some "sheikhs-only" sand race at Nad Al Sheba. The occasional Group 1 win from the billions of pounds worth of investment shouldn’t cloud the issue and Bin Suroor rates as a maximum bet here. (TDK)
On what basis are you objecting to FOBTs though Zorro?
Is it because (like it or not) many shop punters are preferring them to betting on racing or is this some moral standpoint?
Great stuff as usual from David.
I really believe the Post needs to defy its advertisers and take a stand on this. It will be in racing’s and therefore the paper’s long term interests to do so.No doubt the new owners will realise this.What stand exactly would you like them to take?
In fairness, the margin online and and in shops would be significnatly different Wallace.
Overrounds and profit margins are two entirely different things – on horseracing at least. Ask any Irish on course bookmaker…
I think Mahler will be fine back at 12f, looking at his Queens Vase again, he was always travelling strongly up with the pace and could be called the winner from before the home turn
That was travelling well against slow old boats though – I don’t necessarily think that proves anything.
Any chance the foot and mouth could put this meeting in jeopardy?
I know this meeting hasn’t been popular, but releasing foot and mouth from the research centre down the road from Ascot seems a bit of a severe measure to get it canned…
