Would you support a horseplayers interest group?

[andicap]

People like to whine and complain, but how many would put their money -- and actions -- where their mouth is? By "support" I mean getting behind protest activities like boycotts and such?

[highnote]

If I even marginally approve of the person(s) running the group, $10 seems like a bargain.

If I really like the group, I'd be willing to send $100.

It wouldn't bother me if the person in charge was compensated with some of the donation money -- as long as they showed some results.

I was just thinking of this same idea last night. I'd love to see a link on PA with the email address of every state and federal congressperson. Then we could just bombard them with our demands and let them know we vote and we're pissed that the current situation has gotten so out of hand. And we don't appreciate the way we are being treated. And most importantly we'll cast our vote for the person, regardless of party, who respects our right to bet online on any sport. etc etc etc

[GameTheory]

Interest groups don't mean squat unless they are hiring lobbyists. That's what we need...

[melman]

I agree with Groucho Marx "I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member". Really if YOU want to stop betting go right ahead. With all the important things going on in the world and our country to base a vote on "gambling rights" is to me downright foolhardy.

[Ron]

Originally Posted by andicap

People like to whine and complain, but how many would put their money -- and actions -- where their mouth is? By "support" I mean getting behind protest activities like boycotts and such?

I'm not sure protest activities should be on the agenda of a horseplayers interest group.

[JustRalph]

I have had this discussion before and believe it is about time. I voted yes. I would pay more if the group was effective. The best thing I ever heard was the guy from one of the Sheets talking about asking his members to boycott a track (brown?) I can tell you that I also was told that if a track was boycotted in the right area, the local wiseguys would make sure it didn't happen again........that is scary...........but let's face it. This business will not change at all until a dent is made in the bottom line. Way overdue!!!

[kenwoodallpromos]

NTRA already has a players' "interest" group, but so what?
Probably the only way anyone would participate would be if members were serious enough to pay dues, and
It would have-- to send out an email once a week of track news of any kind of visible, policy, or rules changes.
I would not want it to have any connection to any current racing organizations, and would have to push for same basic "standards" in racing that I having been talking about:
-----
Definition of "fan" vs. "bettor";
Standard "length" term and final timing of all runners;
Overhead stretch head-on camera;
Minimum $1,000.00 purse split to at least 8th place finisher at all tracks in all races.
BTW, Merv Griffith will be guest at Bloodhorse Thursday; He owns Trackview TV Patrol, dealing with cameras at tracks.

[melman]

I would like to get Rich Bauer's thinking on this subject. He put in a lot of time with a MAGNA protest a while back.

[rrbauer]

Originally Posted by melman

I would like to get Rich Bauer's thinking on this subject. He put in a lot of time with a MAGNA protest a while back.

The boycott that I started (Jan 2004) from the web site established specifically for the purpose, "www.boycottmagna.com", was funded entirely out of my pocket with the exception of the banner flyover we did at Santa Anita on Big Cap day. That cost $600 and fellow boycotters reimbursed me for about $400 of it.

When Magna capitulated (Dec 2004 opening day Santa Anita) and opened its pools to ADW's other than Xpressbet and made race video's available to sites other than Xpressbet and publicly pledged cooperation with the industry, we closed the boycott. Elapsed time: 1 year from the time that the boycott started. Cost to Magna: Over $100 million in handle. (Not entirely due to the boycott because they knew they would take a hit when they shutoff Youbet and AmericaTab.) But, I'm told by someone who had a pipeline into the Magna management that they were very concerned that 600 horseplayers had signed up, published their real names on my web site and commited to no play at any Magna track. (I had contact from many more horseplayers who wouldn't allow me to make their names public but who expressed support for the boycott. This includes horse owners (names you would recognize) and pressbox handicappers (names you would recognize) and media writers (names you would recognize).

When I started the boycott I received some favorable publicity from Blood Horse and the DRF including BH publishing a lengthy interview on their web site. What needs to be understood is that these actions are not something that you do over a weekend. A long-term commitment is required. Boycotters were very vocal with emails to the media, Magna management, racetrack executives, etc. In addition, we kept tabs on Magna's squirmishes with the racing and government officials in the states where they operated and provided links to that news; and, for emailing to those officials.

I received well over 1,000 emails at the boycott site. Something like 98% were favorable to the boycott action. A few people accused me of being a Magna puppet just getting publicity for Magna; and, a few accused me of being everything from a communist to a terrorist. I setup and published a running log of the emails (some had to be edited to keep me out of trouble!) and I think those comments signed by horseplayers from all over the country made it clear that there was widespread support for the boycott.

GT made a post to this thread concerning hiring a lobbyist. Absolutely! The people who make up the power structure of this game all have lobbyists to gain access to the rule makers. Indeed, many of them have a pol or two in their pocket for situations where they need favorable treatment (whatever it might be). Without that clout, horseplayers, even when organized, will not be on a level playing field when it comes to getting things changed.

Clearly, if all horseplayers were to quit betting and quit supporting the game for a month it would have tremendous impact and it would be a real attention getter. But, in the absence of a stated goal (eliminate breakage) and a commitment from the industry (introduction of bills in state legislatures) after the dust settled there would be little more than lip-service towards change and it would be back to business as usual.

Sorry, this got rather long...and I was just warming up

[melman]

Tks for posting Rich and I have a question for you. Was all the time and effort and money spent worth it?? You see how things are in the racing industry today the major concern is with slot machines. Even if a full time lobbyist was hired I just don't see that changing. Maybe at six to eight major race tracks a boycott or a "bet free" day would cause some changes, but I feel that at the other tracks they would think lets just shut down racing why bother when the real cash is in slot machines.

[Tom]

If we boycott tracknet, I'm in.

[highnote]

I wouldn't mind shelling out money to hire a lobbyist. Money well spent.

[gIracing]

quite frankly i would spend more than that and do it happily. I hate to see a sport I love so much suffer so bad

[highnote]

Originally Posted by Tom

If we boycott tracknet, I'm in.

I have zero interest in Tracknet from what I've seen so far. All they seem to have done is piss every horseplayer off.

Look how they're strongarming Youbet. I think I'll forward some of the articles I'm reading about them on to the SEC and DOJ.

I have no idea whether what they are doing violates anti-trust laws, but it's always good to keep the feds in the loop.

[Tom]

So how about an anti-boycott - throw support exclusivley to YouBet - no wagers at the other guys for a weekend.