WORLD CUP v Royal Ascot or the July

Must have damaged the stakes pot?


This week has been THE QUIETEST Royal Ascot in the betting shops since i started,all betting shops that im involved in have been struggling to take part this week.

The thing is the stakes(bet sizes) in the shops this week have been good but all the money has been for the Football!


Ok the July has been moved so shouldn`t be affected but how much will,this World Cup take away from Racing in the long run? How many punters will move onto sports betting for good?

I know this week in SA will be hard to judge for the bookies as the Authorities decided to offer up a pile of tosh this week,but would be interesting to compare the UK with SA this week,any bookies out there?


When i first started punting /bookmaking the young guys that entertered the shops had a punt on the horses now they spend their few quid in the roulette machines and on the football fixed odds!!

The soccer should have helped the bookies as they took a pounding at Ascot?

Not talking about the damage done to the bookies ,stakes have been good this last 2 weeks(because of the football),Royal Ascot week is traditionally one of the busiest weeks of the year in the betting shops,this year you wouldn`t know it was on...

I think the emergence of sports betting in general is a global trend and likely to continue threatening horse betting turnover.

I looked up my own records and was surprised to see that the last time I had a horse bet ( until late last week ) was on 26/01/2010 -the Met. So whereas my historical annual turnover on horses ( as opposed to profit/loss ) was probably a couple of million it is now almost nil.

Conversely my sport betting turnover ( as opposed to profit/loss ) so far this year is about R1 million. If I annualise that it suggests my 2010 annual turnover will be approximately R2 million - most of which would have traditionally been on horses. No longer. When I then review my profit and loss there is no way this trend is going to change as I appear to consistently make a profit out of sport.

A glance at the Fifa options suggests that there is a bet for everyone - which is seldom the case with horses. So even if the game bores you ( and I find much of it excruciatingly boring - particularly the blatant cheating ) you can amuse yourself with something like a 'How many yellow cards?' bet if you wish.

So I gather you like a "wee" bet Garrick

BBC positive despite falling Ascot figures

The BBC has attempted to put a positive spin on its Royal Ascot viewing figures, despite a dramatic slump in the face of competition from the World Cup.

None of the five days attracted an audience of more than one million, in the wake of a 33 per cent fall in TV numbers for the Investec Derby this month.

This year's Grand National figure was also down, BBC1's coverage attracting an average 2.847m over four hours, against 3.4m in 2009, with peaks of 7.6m and 8.5m.

Four of the five Ascot days achieved the seven-figure peak - Wednesday being the exception, managing 700,000 - but Saturday's coverage compared to the 2.1 million that tuned in to watch Art Connoisseur win the same race in 2009.

This year's Golden Jubilee had the Australia v Ghana World Cup match as a rival sporting attraction, although the race did fall during half-time.

Thursday's audience for the Gold Cup was down from last year's BBC2 peak of 1.8 million who tuned in to watch Yeats'shistoric fourth triumph, while Friday's programme accounted for onlyeight per cent of audience share up against BBC1 screening Germany's match against Serbia, followed by Slovenia v USA.

A BBC spokesperson said: "The viewing figures were down on previous years due to the competition of going head-to-head with the World Cup on both BBC1 and ITV.

"We are very pleased with the coverage from Royal Ascot 2010 on the BBC. Clare Balding and the team had a fantastic week with strong, entertaining and colourful programming throughout and the quality of racing shining through."

i think horse racing is effecting horse racing betting.

Found better ways to bet on local pub beer drinking contests.

i have a ringer no not bob but close enough cousin earl from telly track. will drink most people under table excluding cousin Larry but he pours through his ear due to hunting accident so doesnt count.

The crowd expectantly waits for P's next trading update...............

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Morning Mark were you at a "do" last night