Want to get more young people into betting horses?

[fishorsechess]

With the horseracing industry concerned about the older
generation dying off and no other to replace it : a falling off
of attendance at racetracks across the U.S. Why not lower
the age to bet horses at the racetracks?Hey young people
are old enough to go battle in Iraq but not old enough to
drink. In the pastime of chess, the record for the youngest
chess master is becoming younger because kids can study
the game with the computer and online. Most people's
handicapping carreers start at legal gambling age. If they
started earlier there would be more Andy Beyers around.
A good horseplayer friend of mine started when he was
16 years old approaching only mutuel clerks that would
allow him to bet. He taught his first handicapping seminar
at age 18. An oldtimer walking in stated "This better be
good"(looking down at his youthful appearance). Even
when I was with the Sartin Group at Beaumont,CA one
of the followUp newsletters had an article about when is
the youngest you should start...was that Dick Schmidt
who wrote it? forgot.

[chickenhead]

they need to better define a championship series for older horses.

People can understand the Triple Crown, and the Breeders Cup is big, but the rest of the year is a confused mess. Have to make fans of people first...give them something to follow that makes sense, get them used to older horses they can follow and root for. Non horse racing fans miss all of the best stuff, all they watch is 3 yr. olds.

[penguinfan]

16 year olds should not be allowed to bet, hell, most of them should not even be driving. Clean the sport up and lower the takeout and you will have a thriving industry again.

[Steve 'StatMan']

Yeah, it'd be great to get younger fans, but attracting the 16yo bettors won't fly with a significant part of society - the ones that are anti-gambling already. The reaction would be like we were passing out free packs of cigarettes in front of a junior high school.

[Buckeye]

Tend to agree, make it attractive to the youngsters by LOWERING the takeout and explaining to them in some way that the takeout is not ultimately who they're up against. Challenge them to beat us.

[JimG]

When the racing industry says it is looking for younger people, they mean 30-50 year olds. Yet, during the week they run during the day primarily when that group works.

Attracting underage kids is not a good idea in my opinion. And I went to the horse track the first time when I was around 8 years old.

Jim

[fishorsechess]

right now. Look at the growing rate of diabetes among
our young. And society says that ok.

[CryingForTheHorses]

Kids need to understand the VALUE of the dollar, BEFORE they throw it away!!

[Bubbles]

(Looks at the thread, laughs a bit, shakes his head a bit more.)

[kenwoodallpromos]

In Ca young people know the value of a dollar; That is why they gamble on Lotto, bingo, at card rooms and casinos; no parking or admission fees.

[ceejay]

I don't know how it is now, but when I grew up on Lon Gisland (in the 70's), I was betting at RR, AQU, and BEL when I was 15. If you were tall enough to give them your cash you could place a bet....

[Tom]

Topless ticket sellers, female, 18-24.

[Niko]

I've taken quite a few people and the reason they don't go back more:
...you have a better chance to win at the casino's, there's too much information to look at, I can only afford to lose so much today, it's an insiders game....
I still get them out a couple times a year and they have a great time but I've given up on finding a "serious" player among my friends.

[Macdiarmadillo]

One thing we're missing nowadays are the kids sneaking into the racetrack, asking to be taken in with you posing as guardian (kids still get in free around here). Most seemed to do it just to see what was going on inside. There's nobody like that anymore. If you are never exposed to racing in any way, you'll never pick up the game unless you're a gambling sicko. So buy any kids you know the "Seabiscuit" DVD.