H.A.N.A.

[dirty moose]

Originally Posted by RXB

Pimlico's 12% P5 handled all of $6,397 today.

Neither Hastings nor Woodbine will even accept the wager.

Meanwhile WO's ripoff 25% P5 handled almost $30,000.

You can't fix stupid

[highnote]

Originally Posted by flatstats

The UK desperately needs a similar organisation.

Agree. I was a founding member of HANA and had mixed feelings about using "North America" in the name. A better name might have been something that was global in scope and then issue charters to various jurisdictions around the globe, but that's a huge undertaking, so limiting the scope is understandable.

Still, it might be possible to form a global coalition. Maybe call your group Horsplayers Association of the United Kingdm (HAUK) or (HAE, HAI, HAW, HAS, etc.) if you want to limit it to England, Ireland, Wales, etc.

It would be terrific to have a global network of concerned horseplayers sharing ideas.

[flatstats]

That's a good point about having a global entity, or affiliation. That will certainly help with global issues such as bent jockeys, drugs and stuff.

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The more I read about overseas (non UK) racing the more I think you guys don't have it so rough. Here in the UK we are at the mercy of the British Horseracing Authority who are so addicted to bookmakers that every new policy they produce is anti-punter.

This year the BHA appointed a new Chief Executive. Nick Rust is an ex-manager of Ladbrokes - a bookmaker - and this has caused great concern amongst punters.

Three years ago the British government sold off the state owned Tote betting outlet. Previously the Tote used to have a take out of 13.5%, which equated to a decent advantage over the bookmakers SP (starting price - or final odds).

But the Tote was sold to the fourth largest bookmaker in the country (rather than a more punter friendly consortium). What happened next was an increase in the take out to 16.5%. This increase has totally wiped out any advantage Tote punters had over the SP.

It's stuff like this that grass roots punters do not even know about. There is no awareness of the different payouts and certainly no redress to counteract any increases in takeout. The racing media is effectively controlled by bookmakers (because they have hefty advertising and sponosoring contracts) and thus regular Joe Punter is being stiffed and probably does not even know he is being so.