It's not very often that we have anything to cheer about in Ontario lately.
The government is still hemorrhaging money. Our horse population has by all accounts been depleted to levels I've certainly never seen, and the OLG has been the opposite of hospitable when it comes to integrating horse racing into its grand operating scheme (or so it would seem to the vast majority of horsemen and women).
We have made forward advances in wagering since the plug was pulled on SARP. Take for example the Super Hi-Five at Ontario tracks, most notably Woodbine's mandatory payout on the Jackpot Hi-5 which again proved to be a success last week. A victory on many fronts. Firstly, it helped bolster the card's wagering to almost $5 million. Secondly, it generated a lot of exposure.
Unfortunately not much of it was outside of our industry, but it was interesting to watch it unfold as a participant nonetheless.
Could this night's revenue have been heightened further with help from the OLG?
As I said, we still have not heard a peep about integration from anyone and on that note, it appears we missed yet another chance to push our product to the general public.
I'm not pointing fingers at Woodbine. Their job is to run races off, and get people to wager on them. They certainly accomplished that; although I did see on Twitter some people had attacked Woodbine on their Hi-5 takeout.
I didn't personally hear any complaints on race night or thereafter for that matter. From horse racing's stand point the entire night seemed to be a success.
The problem is, the Jackpot Hi-5 is only one wager. Think of the possibilities that many new wagers with guaranteed payouts would produce.
What would that revenue look like if the OLG helped promote it, or sell it to the general public?
It certainly seems like the OLG does not want gaming integration and new revenue possibilities. In all fairness to the former agriculture minister/premier, the OLG seems to be frozen with stubbornness without her "friendly reminders" to keep moving. But with so many open files and issues in Ontario at the moment, I hope she continues to find the time to "crack the whip."
To be honest, I don't loathe the Liberals, well.....I still have an enormous amount of anger towards Dalton McGuinty and Dwight Duncan for what they have done, but there are many hard-working Liberals.
To call a spade a spade, the devastation of our industry hasn't expanded under Premier Wynne. (At least not yet)
It's too bad that her predecessor in his many bunglings moved too far away from a slot revenue-sharing program to return, costing our province gaming dollars daily. However, I do believe Premier Wynne has done what she can with horse racing after the past leader broke the Party's financial compass.
On a brighter note, most of the PC platform of the last election is being implemented by our supposedly left-leaning government, so I suppose we all still have hope that a progressive stance on revenue-sharing slot programs may show up in one form or another in the future.
For now I wish the OLG would just stop dragging its feet. We are not the enemy.
In fact, last I checked, the government that 'subsidizes' us now, runs the OLG.
I find myself constantly writing these blogs assuming these issues are being dealt with. But that is exactly the problem.
The total lack of transparency from within our own industry towards its participants is becoming worrisome to say the least. Are we supposed to just blindly trust that issues are being resolved?
I know we still are not united. I'm aware that we don't have the one unified horsemen's group we were told would be forced to form if it didn't on its own.
Is there even a "panel" any longer?
Who is driving this bus and who do they report to?
These things all bother me but not near as much as what could happen if we don't reach the wagering growth level set forth by the government. I'm not trying to infer we need to move faster or anything. Take your time whoever you are. It's only been three years.
Last I checked we are the ones falling behind. Our horses are dwindling in numbers, our owners and investors are drying up and our gamblers aren't getting younger.
Can we please get things moving or at least let us know what's going on?
Anthony MacDonald
The views presented in Trot Blogs are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Standardbred Canada.
IN OR OUT The bottom line is
IN OR OUT
The bottom line is that we need wagering on our product and that product is horse racing. So what is required to make that happen?
I suggest a production team to put together a product that meets or exceeds the quality requirements of our customers.
Why?
Gambling money is play money. Its not owed to anyone. It's always in play to the highest quality of play available. The key word is availability. The current business model cant keep up with availability. It makes sense to form a production team, process a fast forward motion and stop the damage to the original model that was set back in the day and we horse people for lack of a better word, were "broke" to that model and it still exists today.
The damage is done. So who will step up and undo the damage? I think a good leader could do it if that leader had all of the production team backing the process that we all agree on. Hence, a new business model.
Regards,
Len Campbell Jr.
Mr.Yamaka as with most things
Mr.Yamaka as with most things the current government does, they only speak or consult with certain groups in various industries. Your idea of a unified voice sounds right but it's no guarantee that with the current party in power that you might even get a meeting. Unless of course you pay lobbyists (Liberal lobbyists) large sums in consulting fees and agree to only award any contracts for services to those specified by the regime.
So although I might agree with your statement that without the slots racing may have died many years ago, again from history it was only at the racetracks due to concerns from municipal governments about introducing gaming into their jurisdictions that the slots were introduced. Therefore to follow my logic no racing affiliation would have meant no gaming in the province.
There is plenty that needs to be done both to improve the product and the customer experience. However nothing can be done as long as government can continue to stack the deck and designate what industry (pick one) can be the winner and which should fail.
In my humble opinion the never ending consultations and studies and "experts" brought in are as some have previously stated a way for the OLG and by extension the government to drag out the process until there is either no market left for racing or THEY decide it should be consolidated into one venue.
Mr Hill, the fact you do not
Mr Hill, the fact you do not pay attention as to how other professional sports and how they had unions formed, how they took on the people that called the shots is more evident by each post. These same drivers have no problem standing up the stewards/judges when they feel the track isnt safe, despite how much management would rather the show go on. You might have missed how the riders at Parx banded together to get a piece of legislation that absolved the track in the case of injury.
We've seen examples of this at Finger Lakes, Turf Paradise, Hollywood Park, at Penn National and in Australia.
so please.... again, tell me how a group of drivers would be ignored? They were not ignored in these examples, and there are a wide range of reasons they were complaining about.
I agree with some of what
I agree with some of what Anthony is saying but I think missed opportunities go far beyond the wagering. I agreed with the Liberals when they wanted to have fewer tracks in Ontario. Fewer race tracks with stable purses would increase the demand of decent horses and begin to develop a proper feeder system from Grassroots, to signature to premier racing. Currently in Ontario we have 4-5 tracks racing at any given time offering the same horses. For the bettor this doesn't translate into great into wagering opportunities.
The industry refuses to look for new more innovative and modern ways to evolve. The industry is saturated with generations of horse people who don't have the ability to renew the industry be it the education or skills. The industry isn't welcoming of new ideas to improve its product. The missed opportunities are in the lack of apprenticeship programs so that todays youth can learn to be a race secretary, a track announcer, a charter, a race track general manager. Missed opportunities come from a lack of transparency in the hiring practices at the racetrack. Missed opportunities come from an abundance of racing opportunities for poor product and not great product.
If we want to create new opportunities we need to welcome the outside in, and embrace change, not fear it. Maybe a new racing model much like the one south of the boarder is what is needed here to increase accountability and transparency. Maybe a complete make over of racing management and Ontario Racing Commission top brass is what is required to move the industry forward? I agree with some of what Anthony has to say but I also feel that Anthony is someone from within our industry that can champion positive change. I agree that one horse people group not OHRIA is the voice to go forward and I have to think that maybe a varied product is what people need to watch to be entertained. Fun technology is what the newest generation crave and desire. Lets as an industry work with the OLG to make sure that happens. I can't see the current horse people group leadership developing a new app for wagering. I certainly can't see them extending the life span of the product past the next 10 years.
In reply to I agree with some of what by Aris Engelhard
Good points Mr Englehard. You
Good points Mr Englehard. You are right when you said horsemen lack the ability to renew the industry on their own. It's a sad situation when your own government is setting you up for failure as it seems with OLG. They started off by appointing a panel who had never been to a horse race of any kind to revamp the industry. Then they have payed track owners to keep things as they are under the guise of helping. Gambling has reached its saturation point in Ontario and racing will be sacrificed to line OLG coffers as we have seen in Windsor, Ft Erie and Sarnia. Anyone who thinks OLG is is going to help the competition is sadly mistaken as it becomes clearer every day that they are only paying us lip service. Every dollar bet on racing is a dollar they won't get.
In reply to Good points Mr Englehard. You by jkchill
Mr Hill, it seems you forgot
Mr Hill, it seems you forgot the government implemented slots or your sport would have already disappeared.
You all had over a decade of the government caring and now it wants to cut the bleeding. Keep blaming the government, and you will realize, you are asking them to do what you all didnt do yourselves while the SARS was making you lots of money. As a gambler and a fan, slots did nothing for me. We never saw a cent from SARS.
The "horseman lack the ability" is exactly what Mr MacDonald is NOT saying. You have the ability, but you are not near unified enough to do anything about it. Keep acting like the OHRIA is your voice. Heck, if the top 10 drivers got together and said, "we are forming The Harness Drivers of Ontario association" and had a unified voice, the OHRIA would have no choice but to listen. However, you dont even have that..... its no wonder you arent being heard.
But hey, feel free to bark at me some more, and ignore the others, and even Mr MacDonald have been saying.
In reply to Mr Hill, it seems you forgot by Will Yamakva
Mr Yamakva, I have stated
Mr Yamakva, I have stated numerous times we need representation other than OHRIA. Your lack of knowledge of the industry becomes more evident with each posting. If you think the top ten drivers can bully OHRIA into compliance with our needs, you are once again wrong, if only it were that simple.
In reply to Mr Hill, it seems you forgot by Will Yamakva
Also Mr Yamakva prior to
Also Mr Yamakva prior to slots fans had to pay for parking and admission so they have gotten something from Slots At Racetracks Program (SARP)
The president of OHHA
The president of OHHA recently stated in an article that he is in the dark also as to what OLG means by integration. That I think is an indicator of how concerned they are about helping. We need true representation of the horsemen and I believe horsemen (Standardbreds) should be represented by a unified group not appointed by the government, we were told COSA and OHRIA were our representatives,end of story. We have to help ourselves because the liberals are just buying time until they can pass on this hot potatoe to the next elected officials. Government today is not run by our elected officials any more but by back room deals made by party leaders who tell the elected politicians how to vote, how else would you explain ending a program that provides for the government $1,000,000,000 anually and provides 50,000 jobs for Ontarions.
Should have saved your
Should have saved your money.
A 3 million dollar pool and it pays 900 dollars!Bwahahahaha
I agree with Anthony, we have
I agree with Anthony, we have all been waiting for the integration to proceed. Maybe they need a little help to move forward with the ideas that have been put in front of them.. I suggest that someone from the industry be hired to work with them to fast forward the different wagering ideas. Three years is long enough to wait.
Have you not figured it out
Have you not figured it out yet Anthony: The Government wants and believes racing will die(especially if they just sit back and do nothing but lip service). The big ROI is the slots table games etc.
The gov't that subsidizes us
The gov't that subsidizes us is run by our provincial
liberals.This then begs the question,is Premier Wynne
doing all she can?Is she really doing her job?
More time for talk and studies is just adding to the
current stall tactics.
Your absolutely right,the numbers are dwindling and fast.
Look at London,most nights they can barely fill a 10 race
card.The entries are not there.
Flamboro had posted extended time a short time ago to try
and fill a Sunday program.
Expenses continue to grow in our industry,however purses
and the number of race dates granted by the ORC do not.
Look what has happened recently with our Canadian dollar,
horses are getting claimed and headed to the U.S.
The devistation of our industry does not need to expand
under Wynne,it's a slow death now,unless the promises of
Wynne and those appointed to fix this mess do what they said
they would do.
I agree about some, but not
I agree about some, but not other points Mr MacDonald.
First off, the handle being over $5 million is sorta misleading. The card averaged the same amount of wagering and maybe profited a bit more from the mandatory pay out, but that was a one race anomaly as most of that $5 mill came on one race. The notion that "mandatory payouts" might lure bettors back, is silly. Here is why. The night the mandatory payout came, the bettors were actually competing for the entire pool. On every other night, they were competing for a mere fraction of the pool hoping to be the lone ticket. Since a large number of the nights that ticket isnt hit, in addition to the takeout, the carryover money dwindles the value of the super hi 5 each night. It's a better investment to play the superfecta in most races as after the take out, all the money is returned that night. The Super Hi-5 is only interesting when the pot takes months to get as high as it did. Not going to use real numbers or a real scenerio but here is what I mean. Let's just say that $5000 was bet into the super hi5 pool with no carryout and the favorite wins or finishes second and almost assures the carryover. Taking the 20% means the pool only has $4000 to return to bettors. Since the favorite placed, this means half of that money goes to carry over, the bettors THAT NIGHT, are only really competing for $2000. The night's actual pool is a total joke considering how hard it is to pick the first 5 places.
Secondly, until you get that unified voice, you have no hope of being heard by the government. You have all these little groups, pestering local MPs and not really making much of a stand.
Thirdly, your idea of adding wagers, would only take from the traditional wagers, and would only work at tracks that have a large enough handle to make it worth the while. You cant have these monster pools EVER at Kawartha, Rideau, Sarnia, Dresden, or any other track. Just no point. The win pools rarely exceed $1500 and taking money from there, to go to these new gimmicky wagers, is silly. You are already spreading the betting money thin as it is with simulcasting at these locations.
Anthony, the biggest problem you horseman face, is what the usuals say to me each time I post, "We dont have a voice, they control us......", and as long as horseman say this, the game will continue it's downward spiral. Again, Ted Linsay could teach all of you how this works as he led the players to the riches they make now. He didnt wait for the owners to come offering the big bucks.
Anthony : It is difficult
Anthony : It is difficult for the OLG to grasp the concept of helping horse racing. Their whole mission is to help THEMSELVES, and create more levels of beauracracy within our bloated government. We'll be down to 2 tracks in the province before any action from OLG occurs. It's a grim situation.
bill c-290 if ever passed
bill c-290 if ever passed will be a huge game changer for one sport betting/cpma can't even release individual track handles for the betters to source for a better bang for their buck