The importance of winning back horseplayers
I recently attended a conference, where the subject of a panel was how to turn slot bettors into horseplayers.
One of the panelists, an executive from an Ohio racino owned by a gaming company, spoke of his opinion that slot players are more geared towards chance based wagering, while horseplayers are skill based bettors. His message was that the two types of customers were incompatible, and his company had no intentions of luring slot players over to become horse bettors.
While I understand the basis for the rationale, it seems to me that whether or not slot players easily convert to race betting is secondary. What is far more important is that under the current models, in place and being proposed, casinos and track operators have absolutely no reason or incentive to switch these customers over, and for their part, many have actually spent a decade making efforts to get newcomers to racing over to the casino side of their facilities. From a profit perspective, it’s tough to fault them. The volume of dollars churned and lost is higher on a slot machine, and the cost of producing the product is significantly lower.
Asking a casino company to convert a slot player to bet the races is like asking a restaurant to convince its customers to order soup and water rather than the steak and bottle of wine. It’s not going to happen.
This is the reason that when you go with a large group of newcomers to a racetrack dining room, you are very likely to receive a free slot play coupon handed to you early in the evening. And when you attend the slots, you’ll probably never be informed that horse racing is taking place at the other end of the facility.
As serious, skill based players gravitate to games with lower takeouts like poker, sports, betting exchanges and new forms of social gaming, and chance based players are pushed over to high churn games like slots and VLTs, the pari-mutuel horseplayer is continually marginalized. The model across North America has discouraged innovation and growth, and the results are playing themselves out.
But what if we didn’t limit horse betting to what it looks like today? What if the game could change, be more dynamic and a better entertainment and wagering experience? What if takeout was lowered for big players and ease and speed of play was maximized for chance based players? If exchanges allowed in race betting for the experienced and programs were easier to digest and understand for newcomers?
The horse racing industry may be wary of the future, but the world is full of examples of bold decisions that worked. For its first 70 years of operation, the Coca Cola Company failed to cater to diet conscious consumers. Today, Diet Coke is the second ranked soda brand in the world, only behind Coke.
Without a doubt, it is in the best interests of government, the economy and the fabric of our society to encourage gambling dollars to go toward horse racing and not slot machines. The industry is a rural and locally based activity that provides employment, the preservation of farmland and agriculture-based living, and has a tremendous potential for international export and foreign growth. On the other hand, most slot manufacturers are foreign based, as are the casino corporations. The gaming technology is not exportable and with the proliferation of casinos around the world, a bump in tourism is a non starter.
Now government and the industry must step up and ensure the tools and incentives are in place to envision a future and execute a plan to get there. No more excuses.
Darryl Kaplan
[email protected]
The reason the race game is
The reason the race game is in the state it is in today is because the industry leaders have blinders on. For years when they were the only game in town they got away with massive mismanagement and then along came the slots and they continued to mismanage the industry. They watched many of the there big players walk away to other forms of gambling with lower and much fairer house takes and did nothing to try and stop the bleeding.
Gambling has exploded world wide and they not only are not able to attract the next generation of gamblers but they can't even hang on to the gamblers they already had. They will not accept the fact that this generation of gamblers is much more educated when it comes to takeout then our generation ever was and they will never accept the excessive, pretty much unbeatable takeouts of the race game. They want to play a game where they feel they have a fighting chance. Pretty much everyone who plays poker knows of winning poker players, well i have been around the races for a lot of years and you would be hard pressed to find a player that could break even let alone make money over the course of time but that break even player would be a winner if the game had a fair and reasonable house hold.
All the race game can come up with is useless ideas such as guaranteed pools,that would only fool people who have no understanding about the true math of gambling. The serious gambler would not be sucked in by useless promotions that they know offers them no value what so ever and it is the serious gamblers that the game needs to attract back, the whales if you will. You can fill the stands with all kinds of people who don't bet or who bets a couple of dollars a race and at the end of the day it will make no difference. The game needs to attract people who will pound the money thru but the majority of these gamblers are only interested in games with fair house takeouts. When will the industry leaders accept the fact that they are no longer the only game in town and understand that all forms of gambling are their competition not just other race tracks.
What have we got to lose
What have we got to lose ....... probaly $360 million that is going offshore by Ontario players already. Guess what re vamp the wagering model and you will get that money back....... A repeated statement is we have to get people to the races to improve the handle ..NOT SO ..... give people a product they are happy with and they will infuse money via online off track methods in turn give life into the sport and guess what!!! people will probaly come back to the track if there is something to attract them like new betting models. Wether that is exchange wagering sportsbook or pari muteul wagers that attract me and new customers alike.
Listen to the UK racing on HPI they give the odds on the exchanges first then the open market ..... no mention of the pari mutuel odds. In essence they are prioritizing which systems are most popular. Here we just have one strictly controlled model which needs to be fixed. Some tracks are marketing well Western Fair... check out their handle on a weekday excellent and getting better then count the number of people watching. Lets start with what is working the wagering system then the people will come ...... You can have 50,000 in the stands but if no one is wagering what has been achieved A SALE OF A LOT OF HOT DOGS ....Darryl has a good grasp of what needs to be done .... like I say what is their to lose. I think it is time we all worked for our money sounds crass but the govt aint going to help any better suggestions I am all ears.
In reply to What have we got to lose by gretzkey
While I agree with the
While I agree with the principle, I do not agree with the idea and concept.
Introducing another type of wager, the in-race wager, is great when you have people already knowledgable about horse racing. As Grandma Jones if she cares, and the answer is no. Right now, you need people in the stands first, and the game needs to be simplified. Hand a program to a first timer, or someone that has been once, say a decade ago at a work function, and then point out on the program they can "in race wager". lol @ thinking about what that means. I explained this to my GF, that she could inrace wager, and she replied, "honey, I do not understand the Key Wheel, or super, whatever that is".
Horse racing, being as complex as it is, needs to have education brought to the forefront to better explain what is going on. Look at any other wagering option out there. Bingo.... not hard. Slots.... even easier. Proline? Again, not hard. Lottery? REALLY NOT HARD. Poker is catching on, because TV has made it so appealing. People could learn the game from home. They could tune in any number of days and watch. While BET night live was great, for the horseman, it did little for the casual fan. They would tune in, and check out the race, if it happened to be on. All the jargon stuff, was not interesting. I tried time and time again to get people into it, but it is confusing. There needs to be a method to showing horse racing, showing it on television as often as poker is on, with good explanations. It need be in a manner, that is not technical. Poker, the second they say something technical, its is accompanied by a graphic and an explanation.
People do not show up at a casino, and sit at a poker table, and play with little clue what is going on. Horse racing does not seem to want to educate the players with the nuances of the game. I have gone to the track for 30 years, and yet to see a person who's sole job, is to explain the game.
The money will come, when Joe Public better has a clue what is going on.
How many of the "skill based"
How many of the "skill based" bettors of horse racing will gravitate to "skill based" betting of one team sports betting "when" it's introduced to North America!
Like RIM,horse racing didn't evolve :(
There is so much we need to
There is so much we need to do to get the fans back. The betting is only one aspect of it. First you need to try and get the fans to come out and watch a nite at the races. We need to be marketing ourselves in such a way that people actually want to come. How do we do that? Thanks Ronda
I believe all people in the
I believe all people in the horse industry need a complete turn around in their thinking pertaining to gaining respect and sustainable funding at all racetracks,from people within this province. Respect and sustainable funding go hand in hand.
It is not a matter of importance winning back the horseplayer,it is a matter of attracting newcomers.
Forget about Barn Talk,trainers traits,relationship between the driver and horse,sucker tips,pick 4,craving cash,doping horses etc.
Can racing attract women such as myself to the track? Yes! The same way a good home cooked meal can attract their man to the table! Here is my tip for the day...
Stop putting the cart before the horse! Put the majestic horse first!
Why not market to the society the value and beauty of horses. Market the importance of horses throughout history!
Attract magnificent horse shows such as " CAVALIA" to Woodbine or Georgian Downs.
Stop making cautious city folks feel that horse people live within an impenetrable society of their own.
Reach out by door knocking/telemarketing, advertising horse shows or fairs...and then I'm sure they will entertain trying their luck with a slot machine!
Something has to be done by
Something has to be done by the provincial parties to bring back the crowds they should study France and Germany harness racing were every one is doing well. I do not know if Darryl’s plan would work but you can not argue with the success of Germany and France where they race for good purses. I know of two Canadians racing in Germany and they’re quite successful. You can see them on youtube
Thanks, Donna Toole