Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy Asaro
Only way it can benefit racing IMO is to only allow it at tracks, OTB's, and Casinos (Brick and Mortar) for first few years. The States that do that will help horse racing. The ones that don't will hurt horse racing.
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Agreed. Although even in those cases, how many existing horse players at the track will bail on the game to go wager on sports instead?
Sure, facilities will get a huge influx of new people showing up to place sports wagers, and maybe a few of them will throw some dollars at horse racing. But would that be offset by the number of existing players who take their money out of the pools to go put it on football or basketball instead?
Maybe I'm overly pessimistic, but I just don't see how racing (at least in it's current form) survives the nationwide legalization of sports betting. Whether wagering is allowed online from day one, or not until year three, sooner or later it will happen. Nothing I've seen from inside the industry shows that anyone is prepared for that. Nor do I have any faith that the industry would use a 2-3 year buffer to come up with a plan.