1/12/2004

Hardly worth opening?

Nobody is denying the fact that thoroughbred horseracing in North America is in peril. And, despite the "smoke and mirrors" presentation of the NTRA, recent betting figures that have just been published for 2003 confirm that a saturation point has been reached.

For a while, during the past decade, those who still fancy the Emperor's attire consoled themselves with steady increases in total handle of around 5% per annum. But that was an illusion and only reflected increased betting opportunities, per simulcasting, for the same hardcore fans, who were just being given more opportunities to churn their bankrolls through the old 'ironmen'. And now, as almost every track affords it's punters the opportunity to bet on everything that is going, the market has become completely saturated......with no promise of improvement on the horizon

So, when 2378 punters at the Fair Grounds this past Sunday only managed to steer $236,000 through the windows, on their local product....at a rate of just $100 per bettor, one has to wonder how long some tracks can stay in business? For the take-out on this miniscule handle is not enough to sustain purses and the percentage from simulcast feeds, which now account for 84% of all betting, is woefully inadequate.

Indeed its amazing that racetracks allow such grim info to be published

So, no wonder Magna Entertainment Corp. cancel racing in a heart-beat, if the weather looks dodgy. And tracks like Woodbine would infinitely prefer to pull the plug on everything and just sit back to reel in their ill-gotten gains from slot machines.

Its a very sorry state of affairs that is entirely the fault of short-sighted, dim-witted marketing 'gurus' at racetracks and most particularly the NTRA who simply do not know how to promote their product...live racing.