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Originally Posted by comet52
The expansion of gambling in so many venues and online has devastated racing in much the same way the internet devastated print newspapers. It's adapt or die time. Reducing the price of the newspaper isn't saving print journalism and reducing the price of racing, while a nice step in the right direction, will not save racing. The game needs a radical overhaul and some creative leadership.
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I have heard this argument 100 times...and I still don't understand it.
What is this "expansion of gambling in so many venues and online"...which "has devastated racing in much the same way as the internet has devastated print newspapers"?
Where have all these horseplayers who have fled the game, supposedly gone?
Are they at the casinos playing slots, or blackjack...or online playing poker?
IMO...no they are not!
Once a player gets introduced to this game...he is not likely to exchange it for another. This game - when it's run right - is unquestionably the best gambling game around, for the "thinking" player.
Unfortunately though...this game becomes the worst gambling game in existence, when it is run by incompetent fools...and that is what we are experiencing now.
The horse racing industry rushed into the full-simulcasting concept, without properly educating the player as to its pitfalls...and as a result, the horseplayer jumped in like a kid in a candy story, and suffered significant losses...which sapped him of his enthusiasm for the game.
QUESTION: In a game where 98% of the players lose...what do you think will happen to these "losing" players, when they are presented with the unlimited betting opportunities of today's full-card simulcasting menu...coupled with this game's onerous takeout?
ANSWER: Those losing players will suffer devastating losses in record time...and will either go broke, stop playing for fear of going broke, or drastically reduce their play to make their money last as long as they possibly can.
And this is where we find ourselves now, IMO. The vast majority of the horseplayers who have fled the game are not partaking in this vast gambling expansion...
They are on the sidelines...licking their wounds.
And a higher takeout is the last thing they need...when they decide to get back in the game.
