Thanks to Cangamble for the tip on this one.
In North America, racing punters are getting sick of the raw deal they get from the tracks with poor pools, high takeout rates and companies bickering over who owns what rather than linking together so you can bet on any race meeting in the US or Canada.
Earlier today, they (HANA, Horseplayers Assocn of North America) banded together for the POOL ATTACK BUYCOTT (yes, Buycott), encouraging all punters to bet on one chosen race at a remote track to show their strength in numbers. So rather than calling on everyone to boycott a particular track or race (which would probably fail because at least 50% of people wouldn't hear the publicity and others would just bet anyway), they plan to storm the pool by boosting the regular turnover many times over. Will Rogers Downs, the chosen track, is very obscure, a regular race at a Tuesday meeting will hold $10k in the win pool.
I hope it works and I hope it makes racing authorities start remembering the punter again. There are far more options to spend my money now than there were back in the glory days of racing... so stop thinking it's still 1965!
The campaign was off to a good start, it was even the topic of a column on ESPN.
This is specifically a North American issue as the pools are controlled by the tracks whereas in other countries they are centrally run and consistent across the board. And totes are only part of the wagering pie, not the only option.
In North America, racing punters are getting sick of the raw deal they get from the tracks with poor pools, high takeout rates and companies bickering over who owns what rather than linking together so you can bet on any race meeting in the US or Canada.
Earlier today, they (HANA, Horseplayers Assocn of North America) banded together for the POOL ATTACK BUYCOTT (yes, Buycott), encouraging all punters to bet on one chosen race at a remote track to show their strength in numbers. So rather than calling on everyone to boycott a particular track or race (which would probably fail because at least 50% of people wouldn't hear the publicity and others would just bet anyway), they plan to storm the pool by boosting the regular turnover many times over. Will Rogers Downs, the chosen track, is very obscure, a regular race at a Tuesday meeting will hold $10k in the win pool.
I hope it works and I hope it makes racing authorities start remembering the punter again. There are far more options to spend my money now than there were back in the glory days of racing... so stop thinking it's still 1965!
The campaign was off to a good start, it was even the topic of a column on ESPN.
This is specifically a North American issue as the pools are controlled by the tracks whereas in other countries they are centrally run and consistent across the board. And totes are only part of the wagering pie, not the only option.
Thanks for the shout out Scott!!! We did well and hope to see this grow.
ReplyDeleteThanks again.