The Racing for Change review: only the start
Betfair's Tony Calvin warns that while Racing for Change's 10-point plan to broaden horseracing's appeal might include a 'radical' plan to do away with fraction-based odds, it is far from enough to reinvigorate the sport...
THE INDUSTRY GROUP Racing for Change announced ten “quick win” initiatives yesterday and it is fair to say that they certainly didn’t set the pulse racing. The measures are all sensible in their own right, but many in the horseracing industry felt that the delivery didn’t meet the expectation.
To be fair, these are only the first steps up a ladder that we are told will take five years to scale, but they lacked any initial “wow factor” or innovation.
This is borne out by the overwhelming media focus on the forthcoming decimalisation odds trial at racetracks one weekend in the spring.
I was asked to go on Sky News yesterday afternoon to explain decimalised odds, and was genuinely surprised at the interest in the concept across the media board. However, as betting was legalised in 1961, and decimalisation of our currency occurred in 1971, I suppose the fact that horseracing has taken just 39 years to marry the two is newsworthy!
Actually, that isn’t strictly true. Decimal odds may not have filtered through to the betting ring as yet, but punters have been exposed to them for years.
In fact, every race-goer has probably struck a decimal odds bet on course in the form of a Tote wager; while Betfair has used decimal odds since launching in 2000 (and as horseracing remains their core product and has grown year-on-year, it hasn’t done them any harm); most online bookmakers now give their customers a choice of using decimal or fractional odds on their sites; and decimal odds are use in most countries worldwide.
So, a decimal odds trial was inevitable in some respects “ and if that is the most radical of the 10 initiatives, did the early plans go far enough?
The honest answer is ‘no’. Horseracing is primarily a betting medium rather than a sport “ along with greyhound racing, it simply wouldn’t exist without betting and the Levy it generates. This means that what Racing For Change must do in the coming months – I’m loathe to say years – is to deliver the package that will bring horseracing action to every home 361 days a year and exposure to the nation.
Yes, racing is very well served by two dedicated racing channels in ATR and RUK, and has a fine terrestrial supporter in C4, and to a far lesser degree BBC. But one is on the paid-for Sky platform and the other is a £20-a-month subscription channel.
Deliver a free-to-air TV racing channel, with access to pictures from all of the UK and Ireland’s racetracks, and Racing For Change will have justified every penny of the £5m rumoured to be earmarked for the project.
Come on RFC: think big, and deliver the ultimate.