SA RACING DOOMED ?

LSU, I agree with the change in the antiquated business model, but there are so many EX punters and owners out there that were part of the old model and now are no longer involved in our industry. Surely an effort can be made to re-intergrate these people. Find out what their gripes are/were for leaving and make work of it to get them back. That would be an easy way to start and Im sure that would make a huge amount of role players in the industry very happy as well by sorting these problems out.
The new blood has to come from a source that has a sustainable income. Students need to be involved maybe like an inter-varsity of sorts.
Poker has done an amazing job in attracting these people to the tables. Why cant we do the same ? Prise money/pools/competitions needs to be looked at to encourage them to part-take in our industry. It has to be affordable, accessible and simple.
Most people moan about problems they encounter, out of their passion for the game, not to be difficult but it all falls on deaf ears. Why?
There is no easy solution to our industries problems but most of us would be more than willing to participate in a solution as long as we can see that something positive is being done.

Neigh, poker is the proof that people want to gamble, and will find money to do so!
When Piggs Peak was operating on-line it was gathering new punters daily (and ironically, a biggest % from the Western Cape)

When I played in tournaments I asked about their racing interests..............response was unanimous..........they didn't trust it ..............."its fixed" ....."it's crooked"........"you have to be in the know" were common comments.
Interesting that they all bought the marketing of Poker being a game of skill.

It is so important to clean up our image!

Rob poker sites have suffered also with image

Google Fulltilt or unibet superusers

Was the reason I stopped playing

Ps it's getting harder to gamble online, the UK is about the last major country that free for all gambling is allowed

Neigh, could not agree with you more.

Keeping customers is usually easier than getting new one's which is why each and everyone in this industry should be treated like gold and why it is so astonishing that complaints are rarely formally acknowledged and acted upon by the operator.

The youth needs to be given a compelling reason to start participating and your idea of prizes and competitions and the like makes sense and will have a positive impact.

Our product Scoreline incorporates this thinking with a league built into the daily offering but with the flexibility to allow players able to choose their involvement from many events on offer. No elimination from the daily game and a guaranteed dividend to the best player/s every day. The format also virtually guarantees daily carry overs to the very next event which will lead to large and rapidly growing pools.

In the corporate world really successful managers are not the one's with all the answers or ideas personally but rather people with the ability to make good decisions from ideas or suggestions presented.

At this moment external proposals seems to be discarded in favour of only internally generated ideas that supports the favourite churn model.

Until operators are willing to acknowledge the limitations of the current model, Louis prediction seems odds on.

Some solutions maybe....
1)Racing is complicated for newcomers. Where is the dvd set, explaining the industry as a whole and all the factors ? Until we do this, properly, we will battle to bring youngsters in. Again, the dvd's must be professionally produced and must be a series, as such. And we shouldn't try to make money from it..... but until we DO SOMETHING, it will be easier to bet on a host of alternatives to racing. We will decline.
2)Our Governing body needs to get with it. The days of bullying and showing "whose da boss" are over, as is finger wagging. Whilst we need controls, we also need progress. How many more years are we going to take to get our vaccinations on par with overseas, eg EHV ? How many more "studies" will be done, funded by the Industry ? We vaccinate our children against polio. We don't say "nah, lets first do our own studies on the disease" and then, " let's do some more studies". The studies were done in Europe. The vaccines exist, are readily available here. We have proven that the herd in SA is infected. So make the vaccination mandatory ?! No....Lets do more studies first.... at whose expense ? Why ?
3)And then I read in minutes of an Industry meeting that the handicapping workshop was poorly attended by Trainers. I was on the sub committee which relaxed the restrictions on the handicappers when Lips joined the panel. I again attended the workshop in November under the Chairmanship of Robin Bruss. When submissions were invited, I wrote and requested to make oral representation. What happened ? I was not notified of the workshop nor invited. Instead I received a call AFTER the "poorly attended by Trainers" workshop from same Robin Bruss who "misread" my letter to make oral representation. Yes, he remembered that I was on the original panel, but it slipped his mind to invite me, whilst he "misread" my letter. He would come and see me next week. Yeah right.... that was a few months ago... anyway, how much "allowance" does Robin Bruss get for this "workshop" ? How much did the "study" on EHV cost and how much more do they now want for "further" studies?
4)Look, we all want the form horses to win from time to time, just as we are quite happy for the outsiders to win from time to time. When we have the field in a leg we shout for the longest price runner. That's obvious. But even more obvious is the fact that we don't want to lose so much more often than we win. We want to feel that we have a chance. When Racing becomes a lotto then we will leave racing and go elsewhere. And that is starting to happen. Why ? Well, one reason could be that all Trainers and jocks have suddenly become clueless....or it could be the handicapping system and it's implementation. Look at it simply. If guns were outlawed, then only outlaws will have guns.....or if the consistent horses and the placed horses are punished, then the inconsistent and unplaced horses won't be punished. And then it will be better to be unplaced and inconsistent. .... In order to escape punishment..... In order to create a new version of Lotto.... And smaller turnovers, as racing loses its magic. That magic which sees that the better horses win more races than the weaker ones....and give the punters something to follow, the Owners what they are in racing for... And something to shout home.

At no stage will I ever complain about our Operator making money. When the Operator is strong, racing will survive. However, I would like to see some real marketing of racing to the young from them.

The input, insight and suggestions have been first class. Still nothing from the powers that be. Their attitude seems to be alike to what Neil Andrews said to Rob " never reads the shit we post"

Just like the 1960's movie "Africa Addio" this is "SA Racing Addio".

To all the clansmen - see you at Royal Ascot, Galway, Laytown, Cheltenham and all the other great courses.... Addios