frank stronach tosses a bomb...

[AndyC]

Originally Posted by Some_One

Just to add some betting handles, HK up 15% from 14/15 season to last season, 107925 HK$M to 124282 HK$M
(https://res.hkjc.com/racingnews/wp-c...mplate-eng.pdf)

And Australia from 09/10 to 17/18 up 35% from 14398 AU$M to 19554 AU$M which means Australia that is 1/10th of the US pop does more handle on racing. (pg 109 http://publishingservices.risa.com.a...2017-2018/110/) and they would have similar pressures from land based casinos, betting shops and online betting as the US plus similar cultural pressures about changing demographics as the US.

A closer look at Australia would show that they are down in every category except "fixed odds" and "bookmaking". So not exactly comparing apples-to-apples.

[highnote]

Originally Posted by AndyC

A closer look at Australia would show that they are down in every category except "fixed odds" and "bookmaking". So not exactly comparing apples-to-apples.

Interesting you mentioned fixed odds.

I was just thinking this morning about Stronach. He along with Churchill and maybe some other companies have been buying multiple racetracks. They've spent probably billions of dollars to consolidate the industry, but where is the great innovation that any of them have done?

Simulcasting is the last big innovation I can think of. ADWs and online betting is an extension of phone betting. Christ, it took forever for racetracks just to build a webpage.

When I devised the concept of a betting exchange in the late 1990's I knew it was a breakthrough idea that could change the game -- a paradigm shift. I wrote about it for HANA http://blog.horseplayersassociation....igm-shift.html

Twenty two years later the biggest idea in betting since the pari-mutuel is still not widely available in the U.S.

You can't expect youngsters to be like their parents and grandparents.

Making land grabs and lobbying governments to build casinos that subsidize purses is hardly great innovation.

Where are the great innovators in the industry?

I hope the new innovators appear soon. Youngsters do not want the same things as their parents and grandparents and great-grandparents.

[AndyC]

Originally Posted by highnote

Interesting you mentioned fixed odds.

I was just thinking this morning about Stronach. He along with Churchill and maybe some other companies have been buying multiple racetracks. They've spent probably billions of dollars to consolidate the industry, but where is the great innovation that any of them have done?

Simulcasting is the last big innovation I can think of. ADWs and online betting is an extension of phone betting. Christ, it took forever for racetracks just to build a webpage.

When I devised the concept of a betting exchange in the late 1990's I knew it was a breakthrough idea that could change the game -- a paradigm shift. I wrote about it for HANA http://blog.horseplayersassociation....igm-shift.html

Twenty two years later the biggest idea in betting since the pari-mutuel is still not widely available in the U.S.

Making land grabs and lobbying governments to build casinos that subsidize purses is hardly great innovation.

Where are the great innovators in the industry?

Exchange wagering has not been implemented not because of a resistance by racetracks but by other groups who are staunchly against it.

You seem to think that a racetrack can act like any other business and make decisions without going through a tedious approval process.

[highnote]

Originally Posted by AndyC

Exchange wagering has not been implemented not because of a resistance by racetracks but by other groups who are staunchly against it.

You seem to think that a racetrack can act like any other business and make decisions without going through a tedious approval process.

Great innovators find a way. No one seems to have the heart for innovation.

All I hear on this board is "it can't be done", "you can't do it like that", "they won't allow you to do it". Like the Nike ad says, "Just do it."

[the little guy]

Originally Posted by AndyC

Exchange wagering has not been implemented not because of a resistance by racetracks but by other groups who are staunchly against it.

You seem to think that a racetrack can act like any other business and make decisions without going through a tedious approval process.

It's a waste of time. He's somehow never wrong while never being right.

It's a talent.

[highnote]

Originally Posted by the little guy

It's a waste of time. He's somehow never wrong while never being right.

It's a talent.

Being a positive thinker is a talent. After 10,000 hours of it most people get pretty good at it. You should try it.

Journalists are skeptics by nature. So I get where you're coming from.

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by highnote

Being a positive thinker is a talent. After 10,000 hours of it most people get pretty good at it. You should try it.

An optimistic horseplayer? A rarity if ever I saw one.

[highnote]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

An optimistic horseplayer? A rarity if ever I saw one.

That's because all the ones you know are betting U.S. races.

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by highnote

That's because all the ones you know are betting U.S. races.

The ones I know are on the sidelines...licking their wounds.

[AndyC]

Originally Posted by highnote

Great innovators find a way. No one seems to have the heart for innovation.

All I hear on this board is "it can't be done", "you can't do it like that", "they won't allow you to do it". Like the Nike ad says, "Just do it."

I am a big fan of Norman Vincent Peale but I doubt however, that he ever had many contractual dealings with government agencies. Innovation is the easy part, implementation is an entirely different situation. See D. Trump vs. Pelosi/Schumer on building a wall. (not making a political statement just showing the difficulty of getting things done by a racetrack)

[highnote]

Originally Posted by AndyC

I am a big fan of Norman Vincent Peale but I doubt however, that he ever had many contractual dealings with government agencies. Innovation is the easy part, implementation is an entirely different situation. See D. Trump vs. Pelosi/Schumer on building a wall. (not making a political statement just showing the difficulty of getting things done by a racetrack)

Agree.

Coming up with the concept of a betting exchange was easy compared to trying to sell the idea to investors and raising money.

But that is the way it often goes in the technology world. The innovators are often not the ones who make the money. The mouse and graphical user interface were improved by Xerox. Apple made billions from the ideas.

So now I focus my innovation energies on things that are legal.

[AndyC]

Originally Posted by highnote

Agree.

Coming up with the concept of a betting exchange was easy compared to trying to sell the idea to investors and raising money.

But that is the way it often goes in the technology world. The innovators are often not the ones who make the money. The mouse and graphical user interface were improved by Xerox. Apple made billions from the ideas.

So now I focus my innovation energies on things that are legal.

The problem is that there are too many stakeholders! If one stakeholder nixes an idea it is usually doomed.

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by highnote

Agree.

Coming up with the concept of a betting exchange was easy compared to trying to sell the idea to investors and raising money.

But that is the way it often goes in the technology world. The innovators are often not the ones who make the money. The mouse and graphical user interface were improved by Xerox. Apple made billions from the ideas.

So now I focus my innovation energies on things that are legal.

When you thought up the Betfair concept...how involved did you get with the idea before you were threatened with imprisonment?

[098poi]

This is from Franks meeting,


“They don't want to have racing. They want to sell the place (Santa Anita),” Stronach said of his daughter – president of The Stronach Group since 2011 – and the top racing division manager he hired, chief operating officer Tim Ritvo.


The idea that this may be a reality makes me kind of sad. If tracks can't hold up their end they should close like any other business. But Santa Anita has such history and is a beautiful venue. Swapping meets with Hollywood and Del Mar and once well thought of by the racing fans and the public. It's just such a shame that it has come to this. My days of going to the track were in the 80's with the great jockey colony back then. My memories are not all grand as the track had me under its thumb if you know what I mean.

I know it ain't over till it's over.

[JustRalph]

It’s a great real estate play and anybody who doesn’t realize that is crazy.