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Originally Posted by DeanT
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/127/3...e47aff.jpg?v=0
He is a 20 year old kid that grew up playing Dungeons and Dragons, is extremely smart and now plays poker. He is tailor-made for games, and gambling. He has $1.3M in earnings. He would be perfect for the mind game of horse racing, with stats, probabilities and so on (he says that is what interested him to poker). However, we have not brought that to him. He bought a poker book and started playing. In racing he would have to buy data, study with a pencil and paper, test, and if he lived in a state without ADW coverage like so many, he could not even play online - and even if he survived all that, then we would proceed to kick his ass with 22% takeouts. This is a huge problem, and a completely underserved market that we are losing. We have to start building plans to get at them and serve them if we want a shot to grow the game (imo).
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Dean, in all fairness, racing is not dead, not at this point. And not all of us are old degenerates, and old fogies because we don't tweat, or keep earphones in our ears jamming to an Ipod 18 hours a day. We both know this. I think one of our biggest problems is one of far too many racetracks--but that's for another day and will likely be worked out in the future by way of attrition. The article at the trotting site is a good one, but, like you said, a bit out there from a few standpoints. I hope others will read it, but due to attention span that may be a little dicey. Worth it, still, for sure.
I think, though, you should make some big adjustments in your photo presentation. Seriously.
Maybe gather what we have today in 2009--Beyer, Serling, Litfin, Dan Illman, Mike Watchmaker, Steve Crist, Jon White, Rich Perloff, and that guy from
www.pacefigures.com. Put them all on a bench, side by side, instead of a group of guys from 5 or 6 decades ago. Include yourself and Jeff in the photo as well. With these gentleman, alone, you have a wide age range, not to mention, collectively, a more physically fit, far healthier group than
your target demographic whose photo you've also posted.
I'm going to be honest with you now. I don't think this young man is a good candidate for your target demographic. He is obese, he is beyond pale. Dean, he is the hallmark that exists today for the darkside of computers and gaming. Why am I not surprised he spent his childhood, his adolescence in front of a computer or XBox playing Dungeons and Dragons and eating one meal a day--all day, around the clock? I'm not maligning him, I'm stating the obvious. This young man has probably never spent an afternoon on a soccer field or a baseball diamond in his life. What would lead me to believe he would want to do anything beyond continuing his habit of sitting--indoors, in a different room? But this time, at a card table?
What I'm stating here--its EASY, Dean. And because of this--what could be better for him? There's no transition here. He was able to read A/one book. Good.
It would have taken more effort on his part to walk across a parking lot to enter a grandstand five days a week, and to walk back and forth to betting windows, unless he's Maloney with his office on the 3rd floor at Keeneland. Granted, of course, he could've sat to learn pps, but still this young man moved forward with what came naturally to him and by way of the path of least resistance.
Sweetheart, this young man will die long, long before the sport of horseracing. I promise you. His heart will give out.
There's much to be done to direct growth. But the fact remains, McDonald's has been about hamburgers, fries and a coke for a long, long, time. And they are the pinnacle of the fast food industry still. They HAVE NOT changed their product. They have added breakfast, chicken nuggets, and salads. But you can bank on the fact their product remains the same.
This is the only sport in the country, with the exception of dog racing, that showcases animals and involves interactive participation to fuel it. It cannot be compared or held up against poker, slots, or other forms of mindless gambling, lotto, etc, etc. To do so, of course, is apples and oranges.
Enhance the racing experience, yes, but you can't remove it very far from what it is today, and always has been. And to wager, at home, in front of a computer is a complete drag when compared to being at Belmont Park, Churchill Downs, and many other racetracks. But this is my opinion, its what works for me, and its certainly not the answer for many, I know.
The industry will continue to work to realize beneficial directions for growth.
Forgive my honesty, but I don't know any other way to be regarding your choice of horseplayers and would be horseplayers.
Though your would be players may thrive on the freebies and the two for ones.
