Horseracing must face commercial reality

While this article specifically refers to racing in the UK, there aren't many racing jurisdictions in the world that these issues don't apply to. From Global Betting and Gaming Consultants...

UK Horseracing Must Face Commercial Reality

Selected quotes

As we have said before the horse racing industry has wasted money, not allocated resource where it will deliver the best return and has not committed funds to reserves.

Now we have the recession. This one is called the Great Recession and it is causing business to really think about the way it operates and is creating efficiencies previously not considered. A recession exposes faulty business models and those who have not been prudent during the boom are being tested.

We are now in a period where the niceties of life have to be placed on one side. We are beyond politics now; it is the time when all sides have to be unfailingly realistic.

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The problem is that racing many years ago started to believe its own PR that the product was infallible and that everyone would pay regardless of price.

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Horseracing the world over is in decline. Most of us came into gambling because of horseracing. It is sad to see where it used to be as a betting product to where it is today.

Racing all over the world is full of people who live and bleed for horses, full of stubborn people, full of people who think they are more important than they really are and full of people from a bygone era. If it was a major publicly-listed company, do we really think it would be run the same way? Horse racing is losing its market share by the day, and realistically, it isn't going to get it back. If the business models continue in the forlorn dream that it can regain lost ground, then it's going to get messy...

Comments

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lay the field - my favourite racing strategy

Dabbling with laying the field in-running at various prices today, not just one price, but several in the same race. Got several matched in the previous race at Brighton, then this race came along at Nottingham. Such a long straight at Nottingham makes punters often over-react and think the finish line is closer than it actually is. As you can see by the number of bets matched, there was plenty of volatility in this in-play market. It's rare you'll get a complete wipe-out with one horse getting matched at all levels, but it can happen, so don't give yourself too much risk...

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