Winning Ways

Just caught the replay on T Track. The jingles and intro are great - well done. Studio is unfinished from what I can understand so will reserve comment for now.

The content is why I have raised this post. It was great to have Paul hammering the GC Ceo on important issues such as stakes, turnovers, marketing/eventing. other gambling operations (slots) etc. I noted that Michel Nirac speaks in a way that leads one to believe that GC will remain an entity on its own and a merger was not even mentioned.

I would love to be able to view the various agreements that P and GC have. I would bet that in most instances P has GC by the ungeldeds in terms of controling T/Track and other partnership projects.

I am of the opinion that GC really wants to succeed it needs to look at other revenue streams outside of racing , but must still linked to racing. Someone touched on the state of our totes and the fact that there should be standards that the agents should adhere to, recently. 100%. I would bet that not one of those celebreties at the Queens Plate would ever put a foot into our totes.

I spoke with the manager of the tote in my area and he told me that this particular tote had been bought back from the Agent by GC and that GC would be doing more of the same. He also mentioned that new agencies would not be signed going forward. I cannot see how increasing infrastructural costs will benefit GC at all. In fact, they should be doing the opposite. They should be franchising these stores. I can only wish that GC could come up with a theme restaurant which incorporated the betting part of the business. They could earn off restaurant royalties, betting turnover and market fees that are generally charged in these types of setups. Most franchise operations take take 5 to 9 percent of turnover in royalties and an additional 2 to 4 percent for marketing from the franchisee. This marketing fee could obviously be used to promote the food and betting side of the business.

Another observation GC has had independent agents (not all) running these totes into the ground without having to answer to anyone for years. The agents take no responsibility for marketing their business and that is why my friends these businesses disappear into the background of the main stream and are deemed to be undesirable.