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Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Wagering Monitoring and More

Some Tuesday headlines.

Indiana to monitor wagering in real time.

“This is a big day for AMS and a big day for pari-mutuel wagering integrity,” said Isidore Sobkowski, AMS President and CEO. “Our proven and tested advanced artificial intelligence solution for wagering integrity will help ensure a fair racing environment for all stakeholders. Indiana’s cyber-security leadership will set the standard for the entire industry.”

Fred Pope is back speaking of changing the IHA, so that tracks get more money, and ADW (and the player) gets less money. He states that "when we correct the 1978 Interstate Horse-racing Act, live racing revenue to tracks and purses will double with the stroke of a pen."

HANA has tried to get the business to understand that when money is taken away from the player, handle will go down. ADW gives money back to the player with player rewards, new technology, and so on. They should realize that by reshuffling money away from the player, the pie will not grow, it will grow smaller. As Mr. Cummings said in his report to the HBPA five years ago: 'this business does not realize that when they raise prices, the $100 of revenue is not $100 anymore. Revenue is not static'. It seems this fact, even with massive recent handle declines has simply not sunk in to some in this business. Thankfully, with increases in rewards, R and D expenditures rising in ADW, and other customer-centric investment, it has sunk in with many. Let's hope this continues.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Mr. Pope's idea is very interesting. However, the NHL, NFL and NBA do not rely on gambling revenue. Even though U.K. soccer allows it, that does not mean that U.S. major league sports will.

Major league sports have done just fine without gambling revenue. Why shouldn't horseracing do just as well without gambling? Why should gamblers pay the horse racing major league's salaries?

If I have a choice between a 10% or 12% takeout with an ADW (after rebate) on a $10,000 claiming race and a 20% takeout (with no rebate) at a racetrack on a million dollar stakes race, I can tell you that my money will be bet on the $10,000 claiming race.

Doubling takeouts to fund a horse racing major league is not the silliest idea in the world of horse racing, but it's close.