More on co-mingling :(

Australia on blocks for co-mingling betting pools


FIVE years from the first mention at an Asian Racing Conference of significant co-mingling of bets between several jurisdictions, the reality is about to happen in Australia.

Tote operator Tabcorp are set to offer a 20-hours-a-day service, with help from British and Irish racing.

Using live pictures, Tabcorp's Sky Racing television channels will lift their broadcasting output from the present 17/7 - 17 hours a day for seven days a week, comprising co-mingled pools and racing from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa - to 20/7 by this time next year.

Tabcorp chief executive Elmer Funke Kupper told delegates on Tuesday that co-mingling and simulcasting with the Singapore Turf Club was being trialled, with a view to coming on stream in a few months, while it was intended that British and Irish racing would quickly follow.

Polling with the US and Canada would come next, and there was potential to add Hong Kong and France, Funke Kupper said.

He said: "The benefits of co-mingling are substantial. It can help to attract new money to betting and new revenues for racing, so that there is growth in the overall turnover base and also in individual countries."

Funke Kupper pointed out that, based on previous experience, the strongest growth always occurred in the smaller country, where the stability and size of the incoming pools attracted new money.

He added: "We have to manage several key issues, such as dealing with freeloaders - bookmakers who do not pay a penny toracing - scheduling, tax exemptions and consistency of integrity and the regulatory process.

"But there is serious potential to expand, and I'm very optimistic about the future of co-mingling."

Soong Tze Ming, Singapore's executive director of racing, said: "Co-mingling will produce bigger pools, and that will lead to bigger investment in our racing."

and we have our man there with tabcorp now so SAF is sure to follow in these footsteps???

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Leeson

This is the best man to take racing to a new level

clearly, lol

'Tote betting key to international racing'

AN unfamiliar advocate for pool betting emerged at the Asian Racing Conference on Wednesday.

David Holdgate, chief executive of UK betting-shop services provider SIS, set aside his usual fixed-odds preference to champion the tote-odds system.

His reason for switching emphasis from a form of betting that he described as "an anathema" in the UK was transparent.

Holdgate was discussing the future of international racing, not UK betting shops, and explained: "Tote betting is the way it will develop."

He added: "Many of the horses' and jockeys' names will be familiar, even though the racing product might come from a distant location, but tote betting gives everyone a level playing field, and can provide excellent liquidity in the pools."

However, Holdgate stood firmly behind his broadcasting principles by saying: "There have to be live pictures of the races, because there won't be massive betting without people being able to see what they are betting on, and reliable data.

"The combination of the two, allied to pool betting, should open up the ability to put on international racing as a day-to-day activity."

Holdgate also strayed from his betting-shop roots when he said the coverage of international betting and racing required a balance to be struck between promoting the racing product as a sport and as a medium to generate betting.

"We do well with big occasions, like the Breeders' Cup and Melbourne Cup, but we to get that same feeling into a normal day's racing, to bring some of the atmosphere ofthe track into the coverage, because racing is competing major sports events that take place through the week."

International Federation of Horseracing Authorities chairman Louis Romanet said most countries faced the problem of increasing the number of meetings covered in television to increase betting turnover, which sometimes led to clashes of off times.

He added: "We should have one dedicated television channel for top international racing, with pictures and information made available, and a common world pool. That would boost betting, by bringing in the big punters, and make co-mingling a reality."

clearly Phum is gearing themselves to be in the running for when this happens. They are concentrating all of their efforts and resources towards it in fact...there is no hope therefore of giving the home punter base some attention - our punter base in SAF will just have to adapt to the new global game and participate on the new format.

i wonder however when and which other continents will come on board, and what sort of information will be available to the global punter - eg. Japan/HK have superior info availability about their runners, Aus has the time trials etc etc