Quote:
Originally Posted by Calzone Lord
Educating new fans and current bettors is all well and good -- but they're going to need a whole lot of disposable time and income and they're going to struggle against that rake.
It's a noble but wasted effort.
You have to detach the "suckers game" label that cripples the sport so badly.
Younger people will educate themselves. Poker is absolutely dominated by young people. Many of the best players in the world are only in their 20's.
I believe horse racing could certainly become a lot bigger deal than sports like the NFL, MLB, and NBA if you see a combination of betting exchanges, in-race betting, and low exotic takeout rates in play.
A show like SportsCenter would ultimately feature at least as much horse racing coverage as it would for any other sport.
It wouldn't be a big deal for serious people who know nothing about horse racing right now to eventually be betting $20,000 - $40,000 -- $50,000 on a race. More horses would be bred, tracks that really ought to be closed would thrive. The whole industry would be a ton better off.
Anyone who thinks that's unrealistic is clueless as far as I'm concerned.
If you don't address the suckers game label -- you're just staying in the same old position you're in right now.
You need 7-day a week fans that will carry the water and bet at least hundreds of dollars on several races each day -- these type of people don't care about horse racing right now.
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The difference is that in other sports people can watch the games and not have even the slightest clue and still enjoy them. People may have played these sports as kids and have a basic understanding even though they are still pretty clueless. In horse racing that just doesn't work plus for the gambling aspect to work you have to have rudimentary math skills and American kids arent exactly been mathmatic aces lately. It is far easier to bet sports as anyone can understand point spreads and over/unders.