DISINFORMATION Rules The Day In Racing

I am continually amazed almost every time a representative of the operator opens his mouth.

Here are a couple of garbled truths which are continually rammed downs our throats; supposedly as gospel :

1.) The pirating of the ‘picture’ : On one hand the operator now proudly advertises on TV a list of ‘accredited’ outlets which now pay what the operator demands for the Tellytrack picture whilst muttering darkly about those who don’t!

Let’s examine this :

Probably/possibly the greatest majority of punters who follow racing do so through a combination of ‘domestic’ Tellytrack, racecourse attendance & ‘accredited’ outlets. One would imagine that the pirate outlets must now surely be in the minority.

If a utopian scenario were to exist (and every commercial venture subscribed) what impact would this have on additional revenue? Not very much would be my conclusion. Furthermore I would guess that the funds historically squandered on litigation surrounding this issue would ensure that it will take years before revenue from this source is recouped and the service becomes effectively self sustaining.

What the operator fails to acknowledge is this : Even if a rogue outlet were not paying for the picture one must assume it (the outlet) exists to take bets. And, if there is any truth in the figures, these bets are mainly on numbers, soccer & sport. The takeout from these bets is monumental……..yet the provision of the picture somehow cannot be funded out of the takeout as a marketing expense?

2.) Bookmakers do not pay their fair share

Here the operator has been quite successful in completely hoodwinking quite a large portion of the racing public. So much so that posters regularly parrot the same nonsense.

Let’s get it straight once and for all :

NEITHER BOOKMAKERS NOR THE TOTE ‘CONTRIBUTE’ ANYTHING TO RACING

For those with short attention spans I will repeat it :

NEITHER BOOKMAKERS NOR THE TOTE ‘CONTRIBUTE’ ANYTHING TO RACING

Both parties simply act as ‘collection agents’ of PUNTER FUNDS and pass it on to the respective tax agencies & operator.

In the case of bookmakers this is 3% of winning bets for tax and 3% for the operator whilst in the case of the tote it varies apparently ( I say ‘apparently’ because despite numerous queries to establish from Saftote PRECISELY what the takeout is on ALL bet types these enquiries have always met with persistent evasion and generalisation. Stonewalling always make me suspicious; particularly with this sport’s history & reputation) from 20% - 33% of ALL BETS STRUCK. So the punter pays whether he wins or loses.

Where this issue takes on an Alice In Wonderland hue is when you consider this :

Despite the ongoing bleating from the operator you might have noticed that they have spent (and are spending) huge capital sums on acquiring bookmaking rights.
So – on one hand they whine endlessly about bookmakers and their contributions whilst on the other hand they are relentlessly acquiring a bigger and bigger slice of the ‘fixed odds’ market. To what end? I humbly suggest primarily for shareholder benefit.

3.) This sport is beautifully constructed to exploit its customers :

a.) The ‘raw material’ around which the entire sport pivots (the horses) is funded ENTIRELY by owners. (If I were the puppet master I would be absolutely incredulous that owners continue spending ever increasing amounts on horses when stakes have been in both nominal and inflation adjusted decline for the last few decades.).

b.) The operators put on a number of supposedly high value races to dangle a mythical carrot. Before you get too excited have a look at who pays for these junkets : It starts with special levies added to ALL yearlings at sales time and ends with an eye watering raft of nomination & acceptance fees nearer to the event.
Deduct those totals from the prize money & you will see very little fronted by the operator.

c.) Operator responsibility focuses primarily around the venue; ie racecourses. And we all know what happened to many of those…….

So next time you see that vomit inducing ‘No tax, no racing’ nonsense on Tellytrack just be aware that the only truthful ad would read ‘No punter, no racing’. And you have probably also learned the hard way how they are treated……………

Spot on Garrick!
The only part that I believe has never been addressed is the fact that when bookmakers offer the open bet,they score hugely over the Tote,in theory.
When the tote declares a return of,lets say R2 (on a R1 stake)it is based on "nett,after take-out" and they distribute 80% of the take-out to stakes,operating costs ,tax etc.
When the bookmaker pays the same amount ,he has effectively pocketed that 80% portion of the take out.(ie it has effectively been removed from the dividend,but not distributed,and therefore retained!)
One of the most fascinating things to read is the judgement/s on the "Tote vs Bookies" open bet litigation.......the tote team could not convince a judge that a tote bet is not a "fixed-odds product" and did NOT highlight the obvious "unfairness" of the above situation when comparing a tote bet to the "eqivalent" open bet.(even though the entire case was theoretically based on the principle of fairness...lol)
They should have easily been able to show that,in order to be an identical product, the bookie had to either pay the "take-out" portion to the punter,or to the operators in the same proportions as the tote - RESULT:almost certainly the open bet would have extinguished itself!

Is this why they partnering with Sunbet ?

Or do they own it

good2soft wrote: Is this why they partnering with Sunbet ?

Or do they own it

No ,they are in the throws of buying Supabet ......and in Rian DuPlessis's own words ............to learn how to manage a fixed-odds operation properly .
Supabet and Bettingworld's results are chalk and cheese!

Why owners still splash out big at the sales when stakes are not in line to recover purchase prices?
Why is the talk all about the highest price yearling and not the lowest priced ones, yet the training fees donot differentiate with price tags and they race for the same stakes?
The mega-million races to be held on Met Day, is it just the operators who are putting on the race, taking into account the many overseas visitors in Summer.

Or do the Breeders have no say in it? :whistle:

Disinformation is not the only thing that rules in racing, it is but one element in a lengthy saga of shareholders being placed ahead of customers and a whole industry.

Why has racing not grown? I could mention the top 10 reasons always being quoted and they do have an impact but the single biggest reason is that it is easier to grow by taking over the whole chain than building new capacity and hence this function is completely neglected.

Racing gets it's best returns from successful punters as they mostly re-invest their winnings or a large part of it back into the game. A profitable or break even involvement is only possible once a certain level of skill has been achieved but this off course takes time and time is not a welcome friend when it comes to company earnings and driving share prices and dividends. Everything has to happen sooner rather than later and growth expectations are almost insatiable.

When a punter starts playing his relative worth as a novice is low compared to a skilled player that has frequent involvement and a greater confidence in putting his money down. The normal trend is for an exponential increase in the return from an individual player and this is mostly directly linked to improvements in skill. Skill provides the confidence to have meaningful bets and this will never be achieved without products designed to target the skills learning curve.

With only a little genuine commitment the operator can take racing from an also ran to its most reliable bottom line contributor and save a whole industry from a pending disaster.

Unfortunately this process would require a belief in racing, hard work and a temporary sacrifice which we are unlikely to experience given the more pressing corporate needs.

I live for the day that industry players will join forces to increase the entire cake rather than pushing some out for a bigger slice of the crumbs.

Slightly off topic but Phumelela et al miss a major marketing opportunity with Sports(soccer bets) at bookmakers... these punters include masses of foreign bettors from Nigeria, Zim, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia etc.... They demonstrate addiction by standing in "forever queues " for ages... they don't have a problem with the state of betting halls etc so promote racing to them... You never know... crossover bets could happen

Some open bet bookies pay more than the tote dividend.

I agree with many of the points of view on this subject but for anyone to believe that a 3% cost for product can sustain owners is naive.

Mac wrote: Some open bet bookies pay more than the tote dividend.

Which ones are those Mac? ...........if its in their conditions I would like to open an account!

surprised they don't advertise that.

rob faux wrote:

Mac wrote: Some open bet bookies pay more than the tote dividend.

Which ones are those Mac? ...........if its in their conditions I would like to open an account!

surprised they don't advertise that.

Hollywoodbets on the exotics 6%? more. However, in trying to find exactly how much more I found the following in the terms and conditions "With effect from Thursday 1 October 2015, ALL open bets on racing shall be subject to the SAFTOTE terms and conditions and paid in accordance with the Saftote dividend. All exotic bets (Jackpots, Bipots, Pick 6s and Place Accumulators) shall be laid in accordance with the Saftote rules." I'll confirm with you after winning the Pick 6 on Saturday, or, I'll just find out.

Mac wrote:

rob faux wrote:

Mac wrote: Some open bet bookies pay more than the tote dividend.

Which ones are those Mac? ...........if its in their conditions I would like to open an account!

surprised they don't advertise that.

Hollywoodbets on the exotics 6%? more. However, in trying to find exactly how much more I found the following in the terms and conditions "With effect from Thursday 1 October 2015, ALL open bets on racing shall be subject to the SAFTOTE terms and conditions and paid in accordance with the Saftote dividend. All exotic bets (Jackpots, Bipots, Pick 6s and Place Accumulators) shall be laid in accordance with the Saftote rules." I'll confirm with you after winning the Pick 6 on Saturday, or, I'll just find out.

OK , I suspected this was what you were talking about ......originally the open bet was reduced by the 6% tax,and after this issue was highlighted by many punters,some (and now most)decided to pay the punter the full amount,and bear the cost of the 6% tax without deducting it.
That is why,when I pointed out the bookmaker benefit I mentioned "80% of the take out " because most do effectively pay the "6% of 75%" so only pocket 20% of their gross (as opposed to the full 25%) !!!!!
( I bet with Hollywood and they have never paid more than the tote ,they merely matched the tote by not deducting a further 6%)