Is The Key To Getting New Players Into The Game Simply Education?

I also think the top poker players are like Hollywood stars, they are glamourised. Whereas the top horse players are not well known. Here is one I could find to whet your appetite... Click Here! I see there are also links on the right of this page with some other famous horse players and a few tips to help us.

@Hibs:

A senior commentator does not mention the favourite until the last 300-odd metres. Thent too, he is harping about the wall of horses charging for 2nd. Only at the finish, he splutters and then blurts the favourite's name, winning by 4-5 lengths!

Is this the type of hype a punter who backed the winner be subjected?

The whole day, he was also choking when calling out the races; if he was sick/ unwell, why not lay him off?

After all, they did that to Smiley; what's the difference?

I agree with Jack Dash; there is some consistency within the uncertainties of casino and other games...............so very unlike horseracing where there are not only alarming form turn-arounds, but private agendas and dog-fighting to promote certain interests only... even with commentaries and TellyTrack coverage and interviews.

Do we (as the 'not within the circle' punters, owners and trainers, etc) need to be subjected to such high-handedness.... all the time?

I have started cutting down my daily bets and stopped taking some exotics...... soon, I intend quitting completely (perhaps, the day will come when I'll confront the 'bug' like how I did with smoking!)

This is coming from someone who loves and adores the sport from childhood days!

We gamble because we want to profit, and/or we need the fix, and/or we're bored.

For the fix or boredom, any gambling will do, even the all-on. The casino is fine for that too because the odds are related to the game and the take out is marginal so you don't have to know anything, or you don't have to think.

If you want to make money then it's poker, blackjack or horses. All the players of these fancy themselves a cut above the rest, or with horses you can add the possibility of inside knowledge or a bias like following a trainer, jockey, draw, stallion, friend's horse...whatever.

Gambling is very similar to alcohol in many respects....tea-totaler to alcoholic, with social drinkers, bingers and connoisseurs in between. I agree strongly with 2cents that the 'gambler' in people is either there or not, and without having something at stake horse racing can be incredibly boring away from graded races.

Elsewhere someone mentioned a xmas wish for racing. My wish is that they/we have a plan. Any kind of plan. I don't care that we stick to it, or change it. I just wish we had one.

Recently I syndicated a horse with my mates. Some are new, some have been abused for a long time. They expect nothing, but hope for the best. Not one has mentioned stakes at all. They just want us to give it our best shot, and they look forward to the adventure. If we fail, we'll probably try again. The only problem I can foresee, is if they feel we've been purposely screwed by racing or our trainer or jock etc.

It's up to the existing fans of racing to introduce new people. There are many interests out there from kiteflying to braai-ing and we do those things with friends and relatives. The responsibility to grow any sport is the participants in that sport.

Unfortunately, you will only bring in new people if you trust that the sport will look after your friends and treat them well.

antsinner Wrote:

---

> I am a gambler as well . 90 % of my gambling is
> done on horseracing . I would not encourage
> anybody to get involved in punting , period .
>
> I have taken friends to the races in the past and
> yes their biggest fear is loosing even the
> smallest amount of their hard earned cash.
>
> Sometimes i sit back and think to myself "if i had
> not caught that very first bet i had , tasting
> that sweetness of the easy buck , would i have
> taken that second bet ?"
>
> The answer is a definite no . Cause the people i
> had gone with that lost their very first bet and
> tasted that sour pill never ever went back with me
> .
>
> I bet the majority of you guys had a winning first
> bet and that's what got us hooked !
What an honest post - I echo your sentiments 100%