Originally Posted by Rare Bog
(Post 733358)
1. The game revolves around bettors and without bettors it will fail
Agree 100%
OK... good start.
2. The current average age of horse racing bettors is close to one billion years old
Saw younger people than that during my many trips to the spa this summer.
Come on dude. Saratoga is an apparition and you know that. An anomaly of the highest order, and in many ways most of what is right with racing. Visit a OTB, a teletheater, Charles Town, and horse book in Vegas, even Gulfstream. Horse racing bettors are old. Why? Because other gambling markets appeal (for numerous reasons) to younger bettors.
3. Horse racing does not do anything (or, at most, very little) correct to attract new bettors and therefore is dying
Disagree
Me too. However, it bares noting that the takeout is too high, there is no direct marketing either positive or negative that taps into the poker market, there is no fluffing of whales at most tracks because of state wagering laws, etc. etc.
4. Horse racing is viewed by younger bettors (like 18 year-olds such as myself) as being a fixed, corrupt game that one cannot win at.
Really?
Yes, really. It's a problem. I come in contact with thousands of novice bettors and there is very little belief that the results are something other than 1. completely random or 2.completely non-random (fixed). I'm not making this up. Personally, I think when people lose they lack the ability to blame themselves for having a bad opinion. Blaming their losses on "fixing"is an unfair and incorrect out, but it is pervasive.
5. This is very unlike, for instance, the message that poker has sold to reinvent itself
I have no idea what to think of this
My bad, I was unclear in linking this to the previous point. Poker has achieved great success with younger bettors for several reasons. First and foremost is the FORMAT TEACHES PEOPLE HOW TO BET CORRECTLY. Everyone feels they can win. The general format in horse racing may catch a man a fish and feed him for a day, but does not teach him HOW to fish and feed himself for life
6. The reason horse racing is seen as fixed and corrupt is because, well, it is
Wow..that's a pretty optimistic view. If this is really the case, then why are you still involved?
Sometimes I wonder. I'm obviously over the top here. It's not fixed or corrupt all the time.... in fact it is very rare. But there are moments. The Cedros affair for instance among many others. Yes, there are moments.
7. Ordinary bettors (people that do/would bet) believe that unless you are an industry "insider" it is impossible to beat the game. (I could offer as evidence myriad examples)
I have thought this before myself, so therefore, I agree.
You are wise to agree. I know guys that follow trainers out of the paddock to the betting window. I know guys that only bet horses when they get calls from "Atlantic City". I know people that ask mexican waiters who is going to win a race, assuming that they must know because they work horses in the morning. I know people who think jockey changes are sure signs that the agent knows a horse is going to be gassed. It's pervasive. I could go on.
8. Worse yet, for some reason, the industry allows for (and in some case encourages) this corruption and faulty marketing strategy to perpetuate itself.
Don't really know what to think of this.
Me neither. I'm over the top again and explained poorly. It ties back to #5. Until the ordinary bettor has the ability to be educated with correct methodology, then the ordinary bettor will continue to turn to these mostly erroneous "insider tips". I mean seriously.... just look at the Zenyatta Breeders Cup arguments to see how poor of an understanding bettors have of the methodology of picking winners.
9. I am a crusader. I am a vigilante. I will address these issues when they rear their ugly head.
You go! Kick some ass!
Word to your mother. I think i did.
10. Vic is an ugly head.
Vic in many ways embodies a lot of the issues I enumerated above. His job is to call races objectively. That's it. He's good at it and far better than most. That said, I believe what he does, in public, on these boards is disgraceful. I believe he seeks, creates and clearly enjoys "insider worship" for lack of a better term. I believe, he presents himself as the ambassador of the sport in order to hype his own self-brand.
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