Casual fan for a night out, versus a bettor that loves the mind-game is a 100% different market as we all know. Racing for years has tried to lump them together.
A few random opines on the casual fan, that might be right, might be way off base, but here goes:
* Dont teach them how to bet at the start, give them ten cent supers every race. a five or six horse box is a small bet for a group and they might be able to 20X their cash. If they hit three or four of them in a night I think you have a new fan that will come back.
* Tell them how to play betting games. A show parlay where everyone throws in five bucks and each pick a horse and decide on one to show can be a ton of fun if it rolls over for five or so races.
* Shrink the venues size wise. Harness racing up here was at Woodbine in the summer. It was a monolith where the horses are a long way away, and there is virtually no one in the grandstand since it seats about 35k. They moved it to Mohawk, a fan friendly track, renovated it and it is awesome in the summer. You can get a beer have some fun and touch the horses. The place is pretty packed on Saturdays. If anyone is ever in Toronto going to woodbine, do yourself a favor and go to Mohawk on Saturday night if the weather is nice. The best facility fan-wise I have seen in racing.
* Do stuff between races. Interview people, have contests and that sort of thing. If a new fan is taking a six horse box, 10 times, he/she has to be entertained as they are not handicapping much between races.
That's my three cents.
Last edited by DeanT; 05-05-2009 at 10:39 AM.
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