Quote:
Originally Posted by Travis Stone
There are a lot of logistical challenges facing horse racing from racing dates, calendars, simulcast pricing, rules/regs etc. yadda yadda yadda.
But, if there is one thing I've learned here at LAD is that there are lots of people out there who want to learn horse racing, who want to become involved, who want to gamble more... but they find the sport too intimidating. The language, the terms, the past performances - it's an awful lot to someone.
I'm admittedly proud about this "Beginners Wall" we put in at LAD before the meet. The folks downstairs tell me that not a day goes by where patrons aren't stopping to take a picture or look, read and learn. And most of those doing the reading are young, too. I think the response its received is a big indicator into where racing needs to focus some of its effort.
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I think your first sentence has a lot more to do with the issues then the rest. In some areas betting on horse racing is very easy, in other areas not so much. Racing is not reaching its potential audience with modern technology and until that changes I don't see how it can grow.
It can be intimidating and the wall is great but honestly if someone has a slight interest in learning to bet horses and the internet getting the information really is not that difficult. I think it used to be much more so than today, I honestly did not learn that much in my first 10 years following the sport compared to the next 10 with the internet. One could read Andy's or Drug's articles and learn about the sport in ways that just were not available 20 years ago.