Quote:
Originally Posted by ultracapper
Comparing the take on sports wagering and horse racing is like comparing a '56 Ford pickup and the space shuttle. When the casinos must build the stadiums, set up the leagues, pay the athletes, rely heavily on the gambler to pay for a big chunk of it, and then administer the entire thing, and still offer 110/100, now we can talk apples to apples.
If the casinos had to run the NFL in the same manner track owners have to run horse racing, there'd be a bank of 500 slot machines at the entrance to Levi Stadium to help make the money to pay Jimmy Garrapollo for the next 5 years.
As for Betfair, if all horse racing action went through them, the horse racing industry would be dead in 2 weeks. The leaches in horse racing don't add a thing to the survival of the game.
I'm not giving the powers that be a pass, just saying that they are in a different situation than just about any other form of gambling.
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Regarding leaches, aren't whales leaches? They bet 2 Billion a year supposedly(maybe more) and if they are extracting 5% out of this game (and I suspect they are and perhaps more) they are extracting 100 million from this game each year. Racing has unwittingly made them a fairly big partner (and in the eyes of racing too important to lose) causing extreme detriment to their regular customers.. Some argue there is a tradeoff. I don't see the tradeoff. I think you are all (anyone who sees it as a tradeoff ) drinking the Kool Aid. Whatever they bring to the game in volume they take away from the game in sustainability and growth. Long term numbers show that. Common sense shows that (does it take Einstein to realize that when hedge fund types are investing millions before they make their first bet, that rebates are leaving a huge slice of the pie for the taking?).
So to put it bluntly, racing has two options adapt or die (where did I come up with that one?). You see PA, a lot of adapting can be done to the detriment of racing . Regular horseplayers can limit their play to carryover, off site tournament and low takeout situations. Horseplayers can make their bets offshore and get up to 8% rebates and racing won't see a dime of it. Or horseplayers can just decide it isn't worth the effort and just flee the game. Many horseplayers are adapting (just not your way) and racing will ultimately die unless it adapts to the current marketplace.
