In the midst of a tumultuous eighteen months in Ontario horse racing, Woodbine Entertainment Group powers on into a new era with its customers in mind.

Story by Jennifer Morrison

It has been tumultuous times for the Ontario horse racing industry since the cancellation of the slots-at-racetracks revenue sharing program this past March. There is some hope on the horizon in the form of new Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne’s plan to keep horse racing as an integral part of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming expansion plan but much damage, from the breeding industry to on-track, has already been done.

For Woodbine Entertainment Group, however, it has been onwards and upwards in its marketing of its high quality standardbred and thoroughbred racing product, making the most of a much smaller kitty of expendable revenue.

“We have had to re-focus our marketing and promotion strategies,” said Paul Lawson, who has been director marketing for WEG for the past five years. “Our whole premise remains the same: understanding our customers and what they want and how to give it to them.”

GLORY DAYS

During the decade leading up to that fateful day in the spring of 2012 when the Ontario Liberal government first announced it planned to end the SAR program to combat the provincial debt, WEG, under president David Willmot, had undergone plenty of changes (changing its name from The Ontario Jockey Club) to ensure a more inviting place for its customers to visit.

Willmot and WEG introduced The Racing Network (now Horseplayer Interactive), the first 24-hour horse racing channel, designed to take racing to the people. Today, HPI is Canada-wide and HPI TV, showing strictly races from dozens of tracks worldwide sans commentators, has been said by Willmot to be one his proudest accomplishments during his tenure.

In recent years, wagering on standardbred and thoroughbred racing in the province was holding steady. In fact, there was substantial growth in wagering on both breeds at its two tracks, Woodbine and Mohawk through 2012. The on-track product for both breeds was among the best in North America with the continent’s top horsemen taking part in competitive events.

The popularity of Ontario’s horse racing in the United States has been the main contributor to the growth in wagering. The WEG signal has been welcomed by bettors throughout the continent thanks to the high quality of horses, trainers and drivers and names of such that are recognizable to players in the U.S. Expanding wagering opportunities to include fractional wagers (20 cent options in vertical and multi-leg bets) has also lured a lot more betting dollars.

The 2012 Woodbine standardbred meeting ended with a wagering increase of almost 11 per cent and Mohawk’s fall meeting saw similar increases for the second consecutive year.

THE NEW AND YOUNG

The turmoil that was felt within Ontario racing didn’t spare anyone — Woodbine included. Transitional funding from the government was granted to Ontario tracks to cover expenses, but only enough to ensure two years of business. So, with tighter purse strings, WEG’s marketing and media representatives have had to re-group.

Immediately, WEG president and CEO Nick Eaves announced a drop in win-wagering take out on their thoroughbred product by two percent to 14.95 per cent, the lowest in North America. “That’s great value on our largest pool,” said Eaves. “I think it’s a real advantage for customers who currently bet Woodbine win pools, and we think it’s also a compelling proposition for North American customers who are currently betting other tracks.”

Eaves also emphasized the importance of the big event component of a successful racing model, key to luring new customers.

“Getting people out to the track to try our product is still the goal,” said Lawson. “To do that we need to ensure that our signature events continue to grow. They are important to get new people out, introduce them to the sport, the experience and betting.”

The major races to highlight for Lawson and his team started with the June 15 Pepsi North America Cup, Canada’s premier pacing event for three-year-olds worth $1 million.

WEG went all-in to entice newcomers to Mohawk for its big evening of racing as well as offer plenty of incentives to its core customers.

One of the most popular attractions on North America Cup night was the ‘First Bet On Us’ promotion. Customers were given a two-dollar cash card with registration of an email address, and card numbers were read out all evening for additional draw prizes.

“I think we gave out about 2,000 cards that night,” said Lawson. “That was about 20-25 per cent of the large crowd that was there.”

From these registrants, customers were able to indicate if they want to be alerted to other events or contests by email a couple of times a month.

The cash card was also used for a draw for the Pepsi Best Seat In The House on the champions terrace. This promotion was advertised through Pepsi on its Facebook page, which has over 700,000 likes.

The core customers were offered four-times the rewards points for betting Mohawk on-site on Cup night through HPI, a promotion that will be repeated for the Queen’s Plate at Woodbine on July 7.

Lawson said that his group utilizes ‘exit research’ after big events to get a gauge on customer satisfaction.

“When people are leaving our events we ask for their opinions,” said Lawson. “We utilize the ‘top two box score’ method. We ask them questions about their experiences and they rate it on a five-point scale. Your aim is to get the top two box scores.”

Lawson used their newest thoroughbred promotion for 2012 Queen’s Plate day, ‘Hats & Horseshoes’ as an example of the box score study.

“We had an 85 per cent ‘top two box score’ on that event, in other words, most people said it was excellent or very good. This is how we must drive customer satisfaction: new events where they come out have something to eat, get the experience and try their hand at betting.”

The Hats & Horseshoes show, which, in 2013, will feature red carpet photos, food trucks, fashion events, handicapping and betting lessons and other promotions, was also successful in luring a younger demographic to the track.

“The average age of that event last year was 40 to 43 based on people in the track’s grandstand,” said Lawson.

Lawson noted that the best way to get the younger generations out to the track is through digital, social network sites and sports websites. To that end, the Hats & Horseshoes event is being paired up with Fashion magazine and Back-Beat Stylers bloggers to reach a young, fashion audience.

“The younger audience wants to feel like they are at something special, an event,” said Lawson. “Even with just a two-dollar wager, they feel like they are part of any race.”

THE DEDICATED

WEG’s wide range of customers is made up of a high percentage of core bettors, those that play the races every day, from on-track to teletheatres or online. The racing product is what lures them the most and it has to be as good as a track can make it.

“The racing side is certainly job one,” said Lawson. "People want to bet on full fields and good racing cards.”

The Pick 4 wager and its guaranteed pools is marketed aggressively locally and in U.S. markets. In standardbred racing, each card has an early Pick 4 guaranteed pool of $75,000 while in thoroughbreds, the guarantee for the early Pick 4 is $100,000.

On North America Cup night, the guaranteed pool was $100,000 and wagering on that multi-leg bet soared past $138,000.

“From what we have seen, the Pick 4 is one of those bets that has an additive nature: people are betting the races in that bet individually as well since they have already done the handicapping. Hopefully we can make those pools bigger.”

The contests and cash-back promotions through HPI also generates a lot of wagering through its very successful betting platform.

Towards mid season and the fall, there are still big races to promote such as the Canadian Pacing Derby, Metro Pace and thoroughbred racing’s Woodbine Mile and Canadian International.

The final numbers from North America Cup night were solid, if not pleasing to WEG. On-track wagering increased by 10 per cent and wagering from all sources went up to $3,001,036 from $2,988,076 million in 2012.

“There is no silver bullet for us to be successful in all or some of these ventures,” said Lawson. “We are, however, proud of our product and aware that we have to keep it out in front of the customer so that they will come and try it. And that’s the goal.”