7 August 2008

X-Treme News, Odds and Ends

Magna Entertainment's future is in substantial doubt. Losses have totaled over $575 million since 2005 Now, even Santa Anita is on the sales block.

Youbet Considers Merger with TVG

Problem Gamblers Share Their Stories

Chris Connor has a very insightful interview with Chantal Sutherland on the Woodbine Blog

Why did Todd Kabel hang them up for the year? He says it is weight. I'll buy it.
Why did Dean Deverell retire? I heard that he knows he can make more money in construction.
Doesn't Emma Jayne Wilson's new whip look more like a fly swatter? I'm all for it too, if it does the job of waking up a horse during a race or keeping their mind on business, while also eliminating much of the pain.

CTHS September Sales Catalog For This Years Sale Is Up Now On Their Site

Paul Moran tells us how ugly racing has got in Maryland right now

Indiana scribe asks "Can slots buoy fan base?"
The short answer is NO. If anything, slots cannibalizes horse racing. It takes away some of the fringe fans, which has helped make it more difficult for good handicappers to even come close to breaking even, as the "dummy" money is removed from the pools. This causes even more discouragement amongst the regulars, who have now shifted to other forms of gambling that have much lower takeouts or house edges.
Here is yet another article asking the same stupid question.
Slot money might be good for purses, but it is not good when it comes to growing the race track pools.


From The Paulick Report:
Stable owner faces horse abuse charges.

Out of touch with reality: Article about Betfair eying North America states that Betfair is bad because you can bet horses to lose, and that racing should not sell their signals cheap.

I love what a commenter says about the article:

"
I live in England and bet USA races via betfair.
Lets look at some of your quotes:
.......Losing, on the other hand, requires nothing more than determination,......YOU can bet a horse to lose in USA, you simply bet all the others to win. Look at some of the betfair markets, where 3/5 chances are offered at 3/1 and trail home last, and then tell me that informed USA money isn't already finding its way into the betfair market. I don't want to name names, because your libel laws are amazing, but there are certain jockeys and trainers that crop up again and again with this sort of betting. And those races are where I will play other horses in your pools, because in your pools there are 3/5 chances but betfair tells me that they are really 3/1+.
.......Bettors reportedly wagered more than 80,000 pounds, the equivalent of almost 160,000 U.S. dollars, on this single harness race trial put on by the British Harness Racing Club.......a few years ago betfair offered betting on The Hambletonian. About $4000 was bet. Brits prefer British racing.
.......rampant poaching of bettors by rebate shops as well as other economic nightmares.....perhaps the bettors actually do have a brain cell, and can see that your product is overpriced. I doubt if even a 7% rebate of stakes will make many losers into winners, but if I can buy an identical product for 7% less, then why should I pay you 7% more?
...we've lost not one customer, because exchange customers are no more our customers than those guys on the bar stools....You'll lose me.

Lets face it, if it wasn't for the slots many of your tracks would now be housing estates or shopping malls. So what value does that put on your product? Betfair will give your bettors a chance to win, something that is lacking at the moment for the vast majority of American bettors.
"

I know that WEG for sure does not want Betfair to deal with the USA. Betfair takes Canadian customers. Often on Betfair you can get 4 or 5-1, on a horse who is at 2-1 or 5-2 on the tote board.

Betfair still has a summer special. Open a new account, and as soon as you bet your first $50 (it doesn't have to be all at once, and it doesn't matter if you win or lose), Betfair will put another $50 into your account.


X-TREME HORSEPOWER

Georgian Downs Is Gearing Up For Friday Night's X-treme Horsepower Card. Pacers and trotters will go a variety of obscure distances ranging from 3/8 of a mile to 1 7/8th miles. 5 of the 12 races have 18 horse fields. There is a free online contest you can enter. The extremely hilarious announcer Larry Lederman is back to do the calling.

A free complimentary program can be found here.
All forms and programs for all tracks should be free, but that is another story.

Ohio and Maine residents pushing for VLTs.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Laying a horse is as hard betting a winner on Betfair.ive won 5 straight years playing on Betfair,ive only been on it 5 years,this year im losing.why?i lay a horse at say belmont .hes 7/2 on betfair they want 2-1.look's like a real deal huh ? well of course the horse wins and well another loss,if you think it's easy to lay a horse try it,it's alot harder than you think.I can bet on a 3/5 and he will get beat,but i can lay a 2-1 shot and he will jog!this is a tuff game.

Anonymous said...

Nobody said Betfair is easy, even with low takeouts. You are betting against sophisticated Bot programs. Lets say they win. Betfair also wins no matter what. Someone has to lose.
The fact is that the bot programs are stealing a lot of the money you used to win.

Anonymous said...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7531388.stm

Anonymous said...

Anon, Betfair plays ball with the authorities. They don't need this type of action, and thanks to Betfair, scam artists can be nailed.
A crooked jockey or a crooked trainer will find a way to try to dupe the public whether it is drugs or whatever.
Exchange betting can easily be traced, so it is probably more riskier for the jockey if implicated, than other ways to defraud the public.