Attracting New Business

I really like the direction Jeff Gural at the meadowlands is heading. Perception is that he is cleaning up the sport. I'm tired of reading suspensions for driving violations and positive drug test. I don't hear anywhere near that much at the thoroughbreds. Start some serious suspensions and fines and give the perception of cleaning up the sport. I do agree vigourously with Anthony Macdonald about claiming races. I used to be in the sport as an owner and the claiming game was huge for us.

Mr. Rose is it a show where the good guy always prevails or is it a sport that people wager their hard earned dollars on and expect professionalism and 100% effort from all involved. Dont get me wrong I love this SPORT but you have hit the nail on the head you want to blame everyone for the horseman's woes and no one really wants to do anything...they are just waiting for someone to hand them a check!

Attracting new business. First I believe we should get a hold on our future of racing first. The government has recently just allowed so much money for five years. I also believe they've suggested or talked about matching purse earnings for Canadian bred horses. Where are we going to be in five years when the government says "We have allowed you money for five years plus matching purse earnings and your still are not sustaining enough to be viable." So here is a suggestion: We need to approach the Ontario government stating that we can be sustainable. We need an opportunity to have better control of our industry and where our future is heading, not having to worry about what is going to happen in five years. What we're asking for is control of all table and slot machines at woodbine racetrack which would allow percentages (I'm not sure of the numbers so I'm throwing this out) 15% to the Canadian Government and 15% to the OLG to run the daily operations of gaming at Woodbine. What we would be able to do with the 70% would be to sustain horse racing for the future and to allow all tracks in Canada to continue. What we need to do for our future is allow a percentage each year to be put aside for these reasons: for long run programs for horses, for injured jockeys or drivers, to promote racing, and to allow the rest for purse money and day to day operations. Again I'm not sure on the numbers we also may need control of gaming at Mohawk racetrack as well. At the end of the day, this is not asking for a lot to know where our future in racing is heading, and that horse racing was here long before slot machines.

What we may need to do to attract new fans (This is another suggestion) is with our marketing money is to have handicapping contests at all tracks in Canada making a five dollar entry fee for fans and to be matched by another five dollars by marketing, fans would need to pick winners from seven our eight races. One winner would have to be determined daily. The daily winners would also enter into a final contest at woodbine for a fan appreciation final (throwing out a number) for $100,000. Fans will only be allowed one final entry. To keep them involved in this contest, if run at each track, it would run for 8-10 weeks and each person that participates more than once keep their point total at the end of 8-10 weeks there should be a prize for who has the most points. Also there should be a prize allowed for each winner each night. This contest if ran at all tracks would give the fan a chance to compete at different facilities. For the integrity of all fans the contest final as well should be based on wins rather than how much your horse pays to win. This would keep it fair for all fans participating so fans don't group together with their tickets and go looking for long shot winner that would eliminate everybody but themselves.

Anthony is right. We need to increase purses in B tracks to attract new owners to our game....new owners automatically means new fans (family and friends) and also makes it a lot more attractive to owners.

Look at the owner trainer on b track to discover 50% are own and trained by the same people cause owners can't afford to race on b track and even think about getting their investment back. That the first thing to do>

Now to attract people, don't even think about getting the old gamblers back....they gone! In those days there were no casinos or off track betting.

We to change the way we work. We need to make it fun for families and younger crowds to come to the track. let the people bring their coolers, lunches open the middle of the tracks for people to sit, put some music, make it a fun day for all.

Let the people go to the paddocks, with proper security. to enjoy the horses and the atmosphere. I was at Saratoga to see the travelers, and that's exactly what they do and people or having a ball....the place was packed!!!! Younger people were enjoy the races and having other younger people there....it was amazing.

Families and younger people all live with budget and they rather be spending their money for all the family to enjoy....not like in the old days when the man was going to the races and the woman were at home.....this time is over!!!!

Introduce new wages for people to bet low and have a chance to win big.....just the excitement of having a chance to win big will make it attractive.

If we don't change any of this we will be at the mercy of the governments.....and that's bad news....cause one day, one will be elected and will decide to invest somewhere else.....like we saw a few years back.

Mr.Yamakva
I have a proposal or experiment for you. Make horse racing a non-wagering event ok? Now have each track offer hotdogs, ballon rides, etc etc and see how many people will go not for one day only but consistently and spend their money at the tracks consistently. I cannot almost guarantee you those numbers will decrease very very quickly.Horse racing has been, is and always will be a GAMBLING event. Take the gambling out and you might as well blow up the tracks because there would be no need for them.
Your comment on proline and poker takeout is all semantics. While most people may not know what a "takeout" refers to what they do know is that poroline is a losing proposition. Most people who play proline will easily tell you that to make money in proline you need to bet big because the system is set up for you to lose.
Apart from point spread any other gimmick they offer requires the player to pick at least over 4 games before you get any kind of odds.
That my freind is because the system is set up simply for the government to rake in all the coin. It is hardly a fair way to bet but at the moment it's all that's being offered.As the eprsonbelow said as soon as people can start betting on one team then you will see very people who make big bets will flock to. Yes the gamblers of today were kids at one time but you know what? I went and continue to go because I love racing and I enjoy betting (or should say enjoyed) betting on racing. Nowadays, for reasons I have mentioned mnay times before I limit to betting my racing money on the Meadowlands and thoroughbred racing and the reason for that is very simple. I can bet world class drivers there and get good odds. There are many problems with the product that (Canadian) tracks offer. I can write a list of them but I have already done that many times before and nothing changes. Having said that, not getting a free hotdog or cap is nowhere near the top of the list. I am not saying having a nice atmosphere at the track and receiving the odd free gift is a bad idea.In an of itself it is a nice though. However it doesn't even begin to address the real issues that have caused gamblers (yes gamblers) to leave in droves. A betting sport by it's very nature needs gamblers who keep coming back (who are also fans by the way). Having just fans for one or two days a year won't solve anything.

Mr Riga....

the article is "attracting new business" not getting back old business.

Worrying about old gamblers will only aid the now. Those big bettors did not look after the next generation of gambler and ensure horse racing survives. They are not supposed to. Them returning will not bring in new fans. Who cares if the pot goes up an extra hundred thousand if new bettors cant read a form/program? Who cares how low the takeout is if new fans dont bother coming? Show me how "the take out" made slots so popular. It didnt.

Wanna bring up proline? Show me anywhere what the take out for that is. Noòooooo where.

So poker, proline and slots are all crushing harness and don't advertise take out but are getting more and more new customers each year.

Take out is a technical aspect that will help the game but wont lure a single new fan.

*sidenote - I asked 20 random people this weekend "if woodbine lowered the take out by 10 percent would you go to the races?" And not a single person had a clue what I was talking about. Takeout is another term the public doesn't get*

Don't criticize the horsemen. We still put on the show. Be critical of the ones that could have made a change but didn't...the racetrack operators, the ORC, the Liberals, the OLG, and OHR. It's all smoke and mirrors with them. Reread the Robert Burgess letter sent to John Snobelen dated March 3, 2014. You may learn something.

You can pass out all the free hotdogs and balloons that you want to pass out and that is not going to get me back playing the races again and yes i was a big bettor, nor will it get back any other big bettor that i know of that has walked away from the races to other forms of gambling. To say that track takeout or house hold does not matter is to have your head buried in the sand. It may not matter to the $2. bettor but it sure matters to people who pound the money thru. The industry needs both small and big players but to be healthy they need the big players and with the excessive track takeouts, that tracks currently charge they have no shot of keeping the ones they currently have or attracting new ones. I will stick to games that have a fair house hold such as sports betting and/or poker and the younger gamblers feels the exact same way. They are not interested in playing the races and being taken to the cleaners with every wager they place because the track gives them a free hotdog and a free balloon when they walk thru the door. To that i say thanks but no thanks.

The sad reality is,harness racing has "maybe" ten years left in it's present format.When they bring in one team sports betting and daily fantasy, harness racing won't last 6 months.

The people in charge for the last 15 years that didn't do anything to evolve the game are still in charge!!

The glory days are over Anthony.The OLG can integrate horse racing into their gaming future but they can't make people LOVE IT.

Points well taken Anthony. My recent suggestion to the ORC and industry panel was to get out from behind their desks and talk to those on the ground to appreciate the harsh reality. We need less propaganda and more honest, constructive, analysis and action. The model created is terribly flawed. Any stability is more of a testament to peoples love, passion and hope than the brutal reality that exists. You don't have a prayer of a reasonable expectation of profit, at the b tracks. That fact alone jeopardizes racings' long term sustainability. We've heard enough talk, listened to enough propaganda, and seen next to no meaningful action on all industry fronts.

I'm sorry but I just can't believe what I just read here. Medication and cheating, as well as takeout don't matter???? Really. You can't be serious.
Most of the serious bettors that I know have stopped betting on the races for these very two reasons.
Carnival affairs and giveaways might work at some of the smaller B tracks, and I understand the need for these tracks as they create a sort of farm system where the horses canbe developed and hopefully one day make it to the big leagues like Woodbine/Mohawk or the Meadowlands in the US.
However very few if any serious bettors will care about giveaways at these major tracks and whatever little do care are usually the fans that don't come back too often.
Though I don't consider myself a huge bettor I am not a $2 bettor either. When I was going to the track on avergae I would gamble between $300-$1000 per night and I would usually do this every weeke sometimes twice a week. So would my brother. Between the two of us we would gamble more in one night then an average $2 bettor would in a year. Now while the average $2 betor might not care about a race that is run in a suspicious manner trust me the real gamblers and true horseplayers do. Now I agree that everything must be done to attract new gamblers. However attracting them is one thing keeping them is another. Giving out the occasional baseball cap or free $2 betting voucher is not what is going to keep them coming back. Only a fair shot at making money with a reasonable return on that bet is what will keep people coming back and that is where integrity in the racing as well as takeout come into play. Take proline for example. When it first came out it was fairly popular and some types of wagers like point spread still are. However when you need to bet 6 teams that pay an avergae of 10-1 (1.2 x1.4 x 1.6 etc. etc) less and less people end up playing because the houses take out is ridiculous.
Racing needs all types of betters. Big and small. But when you alienate the big ones which are typically the ones that keep coming back and sustain the game then you are simply asking for trouble.
Yes I agree better marketing is necessary but at the end of the day for most people it's about making money and if you're not making it enough then really what is the point in coming back????

Will is right it really is a year wasted. No one really wants to listen to what the fans want. I have been around this sport for 30 years and am saddened at it's current state. With the new olg online gambling it will replace bricks and mortar venues. Does the industry want to listen and act or do what they have done the last year?

We had this conversation a year ago and I was told to mind my business. In the year that's passed, you now had a horseman raise a ton of cash towards showing a race..... one that went head to head with major US college football and your ratings reflected that. That was money well wasted. It didn't help the sport in general with that incredibly poor broadcast.

This wasted year reallllllllly hurt y'all. It has now gone from a provincial emergency to North American panic for the sport.

I was laughed off by the thoughts that giving away stuff and carnival like stuff would help. The southern Ontario tracks and Kawartha all had the biggest crowds when it was a family affair. SMART MOVE. Those youth..... now have a memory for you to build on. But the past 15 years..... still need to be dealt with.. look at where gambling dollars are and how they got there,.

Poker is killing harness. Look at how they went from paying to be on TV, to networks paying major tournaments to broadcast now. Curling, same thing. Poker went as far as education in their early broadcasts. Its pointless using racing jargon if people have no clue what the terms mean. Each time you heard what "threebet", "the nuts" & "sidepot" meant. Currently..... what does harness have? Broadcasts which only harness fans can understand. It coulda been in another language. I always get my gf to watch these events on TV... and ask her honest questions. She too being in marketing, sees the obvious..... there is no connection between common person and horse racing. Poker welcomed the general public into their game, and you have pushed fans further away. (And all the comments that told me I was wrong.... here is my told ya so).

Take-out is a minor thing as casual fans have no clue how this even works. Slots doesn't even advertise its take out, nor does poker. Us hardcore bettors know the importance but luring us.... is already done.

Medication and cheating.... casual fans cant tell the difference, again an issue, but not important to bringing fans.

A few MAJOR steps must be taken.

1) figure out how to get on TSN or Sportsnet like poker is. An interesting and informative show needs to be had. Scrap all past models as they were the most unfriendly shows to casual fans. I love Jim Bannon, but he spoke Dutch to the non-horse fan. The show needs to be as interesting as a poker broadcast or forget it. Thinking WAYYYYYYYY outside the box is important. Forget these in house folk hosting a network broadcast, keep them where they are. This needs to be some one or a group interesting enough to catch casual fans and not speak horse lingo.

2) the allure of huge winning will bring casual bettors out. People rather spend 20 bucks at 15 million -1 odds because they have a chance at riches or spend $20 trying to win $750 at slots rather than bet on Kawartha, Sudbury, Dresden, Sarnia.... where they don't even get exactor pools over $500 most times. I hate to say it.... but these tracks will NEVER be able to sustain a decent income with the massive expenses they bring. Until the sport itself is more stable..... they are slowing the progress of the game.

3) ever watch racing of any sort and see 4-15 competitors all within a length or 2 of winning? Those events are watched the most. Western Fair and Rideau have both featured entire cards where there was no 3 horse win photos. Might be decent racing but look at many English tracks, or Japan racing or Swedish Harness.... rarely isn't there 3-5 horses within a length at the wire. Meadowlands is the closest to that.

Harness racing, I love you.... but your way ain't working.