Quote:
Originally Posted by thaskalos
Horse racing doesn't need this kind of fans...IMO. Some sports fans identify with certain teams and go around telling other fans that "their team" is this or that. This sort of "loyalty" isn't what horse racing is about.
Gambling games don't depend upon "emotional relationship"...they sink or swim in accordance with the entertainment/wagering value that they offer to the bettor. If the value is there, then the bettor will come...and if the value ISN'T there...then neither will the bettor be there. And when I say "value"...I don't necessarily mean PROFIT. The casino side of the racetrack offers no "profitable" games...but the "entertainment" value seems to be higher probably because the bettors there lose at a slower rate. So...the casino side of the racetrack is brimming with business...while the horse-betting side is a ghost-town.
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I think you are missing my point, but I do understand your point about the value.
IMO, most people don't wake up one day and say to themselves, I think I'm going to start gambling on football, baseball, boxing etc... They start watching a sport, find themselves enjoying it, and eventually start forming attachments and opinions on the participants. Then they start betting on the events.
The value of the wagering event certainly means a lot long term, but you have to get new people in the door too.
When Got Stormy won yesterday, my twitter feed lit up. That's because everyone knows Got Stormy, has followed her career, and she beat the boys again. Not surprisingly a lot of tweets were from women who now follow the sport. It seems to me that WAY more women follow the sport now than years ago. It would not shock me if horses like Zenyatta and Rachel had something to do with that in the same way Forego, Seattle Slew, and Ruffian did it for me. Some of these women bet too. That's what we want. We need more horses like Got Stormy.
