Sport is made for betting

I like to rant about racing issues, so it's about time I had a crack at British racing's Racing For Change. Here are the points listed as part of the Racing for Change initiatives with my comments inserted: -Trial of decimal odds at several race meetings over one weekend in spring 2010. I think this is more to do with the failing education system than racing's problem, but I see their point. But going to 1.5/1 instead of 6/4 is a waste of time. If you're going to change, do it properly and go to proper decimals - the Betfair/Australian bookies way (2.5). One state of Australia went to decimalised fractions (18/10 etc) on its own and it had zero effect. They all ended up going to proper decimal odds in the late 90s. BUT Australia had a key reason to switch - the totes had taken over and the younger generation were more accustomed to seeing tote odds broadcast on the TV or in the paper. The Tote is almost a non-entity in the UK. I doubt it will make a difference at all - ...

Saturday's card at Newmarket featuring that impossible Cambridgeshire means the Scoop6 will rollover again, with £540k in the win fund and £232k in the bonus fund for next week. So tough were the Scoop6 races and the results they threw out, nobody lasted past the fourth leg and just one place dividend was paid. The lucky punter was the only one to name a placegetter in every leg, and claimed the whole place fund off £75,648 for his £2 stake. He didn't get one winner, just six placegetters. Nice work... much better than the all-up!

Could it be? TABCorp has announced that pools for the Big6 - their poorer cousin of the UK's Scoop6 could have one pool operating by early next year. BIG6 pools merger on the cards About time - what's the point of having a jackpot pool if it's not the biggest you can possibly make it? It's a good move to do it, but they are still missing a trick. To get the most out of this bet type, they should package the six races up each week for free-to-air TV so it gets the maximum exposure possible.

That's a lot of cash to play for, but considering you have to land six winners one week before you get a chance at the jackpot, I doubt I'll be hitting it too hard next week.

This week Betfair has purchased a US racing network and tote pool company for just £35m. The Tasmanian TAB, a small but innovative tote monopoly, is up for sale with estimates being between AU$30 and $80 million (£13-35m). Let's look at the UK tote. It's not a monopoly. Day-to-day race pools (win, place, exacta, trifecta) are pitiful, the only popular products are the Placepot and Scoop6. The Tote has a lot of shops, some of which are rather dated or closing down. It has a bookmaking arm, but who doesn't these days, and how many of these customers are genuinely loyal without accts elsewhere? The Tote now links in with most UK bookies, which means big pools but gives away most of their margin as well. The technology is outdated and frequently breaks down. A tote should be able to show approximate dividends the instant the horses cross the line. A recent bet of mine at Ascot, a winning trifecta, took 20 minutes to display a dividend. How do they calculate the divs - with pen ...

... but still pull out an average product. Victorian and NSW tote monopoly TABCORP gave been blasted in recent years for their lack of innovation with new bet types. A decade ago they had a bet called the Straight Six requiring punters to land the winner of six races in a row. They sacked it because apparently it was a bad thing the syndicates got heavily involved, pumping tens of thousands of dollars into the pools which rolled over for several weeks. In recent years they have brought out lemons such as Spinner (will the first two horses home be even numbers, odd or 'split' as per two-up, with a 16% margin!), Duet (place quinellas - famously advised as a great bet by King Muppet Robert Nason because 'my mum likes it') and the Mystery 6, which was similar to the Straight 6, but you couldn't pick your own numbers, it was just a lottery ticket. The Big 6 will be on the last six races (no variety for quality of race or how short the favourite is) and mostly likely all ...

The Scoop6, biggest ever rollover, biggest ever publicity for the UK Tote. Yet they priced up more than £4m on new money in the pool at 50/1. OK, some of it may have been to generate a bit more PR, but it just shows they don't understand what they have on their hands. Rollover jackpots are enormous. £5m pools brings out the people with no idea about racing, and suddenly gets them excited about the sport. So why doesn't the Scoop6 pool open for betting before Saturday morning? Surely it can open on Friday as soon as the fields are ready? Why not open it overnight online. This bet has international appeal - to force them to wait until the UK shops are open just misses a massive opportunity. The UK tote is such a poor cousin of all the other totalisators around the world. They have a fantastic product in the Scoop6, but they promote it poorly. Where is the advertising of the place fund? You'd be lucky to find any mention of it anywhere. Great product, but they don't do a l...

They say it's impossible to pick, but that's the beauty of it. A pool of around £5m will be on offer to the punter(s) who land the winner in each of the six selected races on Saturday. We've put together a few syndicates in our office to land the big one, but in all honesty, it's going to be bloody hard. After all, if there are 12 runners in every race, it means there are just under three MILLION combinations to cover! But you've got to be in it to win it. If you use your Betfair account, you don't pay commission on it (or premium charge) if you win, but you do receive credit for the commission points. Good luck!