tremblant
Amateur Rider
Why did it fail to establish itself
Hello mate,I wonder if bookies will focus on horse racing more as that has been hit least by the tax rises imposed by Rachel in accounts
Replied in "Is there any good bookies"Hello mate,
That was the point i was making (or trying to make) last week on the "Is there any good bookies" etc thread but somehow it was taken as a whinging about bookies restricting and closing accounts post. As i said at the time, that is old news and has been done to death. And as an extra, in my working days i did actually try and fight some of the "rules" that were being put in place regarding closing and restricting because i had my doubts as to whether we would have any punters left !!!
But getting back to your reply, bookmakers should make an effort to try and encourage horse racing punters to get back in the shops (which as i will say again, was the point i was trying to make), but whether they will or not is a different matter.
It depends on how much they value racing. But what they say and what they really think regarding that are poles apart.
I wrote the above piece just a few days ago but definitely wasnt expecting to see the return of the possible doom and gloom for Kempton so soon.I was sat thinking last night about the finances of racecourses and how they are going to be impacted once the firms cut back on their sponsorships, advertising etc. And as the betting turnover declines, how they will be hit by lower media rights payments which have been a life saver for a lot of tracks. And sadly, i think a few more will go the way of Teeside Park/Stockton in the coming years because the money they rake in thru admission charges is not gonna keep them afloat.
There has been talk over the years of Kempton being sold for redevelopment and not so many years ago Redcar was the name in the frame to go. You just have to look at those tracks and where they are to see that they would be very valuable to developers.
A friend of mine was at Newcastle a few nights ago and he said it was dead.. "Like a morgue" were his exact words. Apart from the obvious big days there, Northumberland Plate, AW finals, Fighting Fifth, the average crowds for their AW meetings are around 400. And again with Kempton, King George/Xmas Hurdle etc apart, their AW meetings attract on average around 500. Now i'm not suggesting that Newcastle will fall by the wayside any time soon but there was talk in the past about redevelopment.
But going back to the attendance figures. When you consider that they dont just include people who have paid to get in, they also include sponsors, corporate hospitality organisers and their staff, members, owners and trainers, complimentary tickets holders and more, the mind boggles as to how many people actually pay money to get in. So as the money the tracks are currently receiving starts to decrease, the more they are going to struggle.
And sadly, it will be too much for some.