Because of the continued fee dispute between TrackNet Media Group (a partnership of Magna Entertainment and Churchill Downs Inc) and 17 MidAtlantic Cooperative tracks and simulcast locations, I have been unable to wager on racing at Santa Anita Park, Fairgrounds and now Gulfstream. This means less interest in horse racing, less purchases of sheets, DRF,etc. As a resident within 35 miles of Philadelphia Park, I am stuck with very limited options to open any other online betting account. Philly Park\'s Phonebet is one of those that is currently \"in dispute\" with TrackNet Media. So with Aqueduct closed today, and no other great racing to bet on, I guess my money will stay put and my mind will concentrate on football.Go EAGLES.
What about youbet?
You are much wiser than I because I\'ve tried to make a go of it at some other tracks (Hawthorne, Turf Paradise, Delta Downs, Calder, Tampa, etc.) and got crushed after some initial success. At least your money stayed in your pocket! I did venture once to NY OTB (Suffern, NY), probably too far for you, and it wasn\'t bad despite the long drive. Plenty of TV\'s and betting machines and not too crowded, either. But I\'ve just become used to betting at home with my PC and access to all the great online information (like T-G\'s at my finger-tips) so the whole OTB thing would take some getting used to for sure. If anyone out there has any options, let me know please! I know some people who bet with some phone account in OK (the whole thing is very hush-hush for some reason???), but I don\'t know how to reach them. Most betting sites won\'t let you join if you\'re not in certain states, and NJ is locked out of most. Really stinks! Why do we put up with this???
Twinspires.com is taking gulfstream along with racing2day.com (really good sign up bonus and no fee for a debit/credit card card deposit, use the debit card and your bank won\'t charge a cash advance fee.)
and i\'m sure xpressbet is probably taking it.
I don\'t know all the restrictions (residency, where you\'re calling from, etc.), but, at least some OTB regions have a phone account option. I\'m in the Western NY region, and can pick up all the major tracks. The one caveat is that you have to maintain a $300 balance to get track odds, otherwise you get whacked 6%.
No sport shoots itself in the head more than racing; as a Phonebet customer, I can wager on NYRA, but not watch the races at home (4 years now and counting!) because NYRA considers sending the signal to homes another fee they should collect. As stated in this thread, the \"Eastern Consortium\" of tracks cannot wager on FG, CD, GP, SA, because everybody is so damn greedy (in a recession yet!!)
Not being able to wager this past fall on the CD \"stars of tomorrow\" 2YO cards really set me off, as it is one of my favorite things to wager on. Now I am faced with the prospect of not being able to bet on most of the preps as well as the Derby itself. I should not have to open another account just to be able to bet!
Racing is in desperate need of an all-powerful Commissoner or it will continue to decline more rapidly than I first thought. We come off a year of great stories; Rachael, Zenyatta, the \'Birds, etc..and racing reduces itself to petty, narrow self-interest such as signal fees!
Fasteddie,
I\'ll assume you are unable to get cable NYC OTB CH 71 or it\'s equivalents throughout NY state.It\'s the live NYRA show with Little Andy and Jason doing the card each day. It\'s far superior to TVG or HRTV.
A consultant hired by racing admonished race tracks for not sending out it\'s signal to the masses for FREE!The clueless racing execs are far out of the players loop on how to promote/expand the handle and sport.Just about every form of gaming promotes it\'s product far better than racing and treats its customers far better.A small silver lining in that Betfair is getting in to the market and they are far more advanced in their thinking than the clowns now in charge.NYRA gave a calender to it\'s loyal patrons, how nice!
Don\'t dare ask to see your horse run when you can\'t be at the track or an OTB.Free live streaming, how dare you ask for that.
We all know that tracks that put on the show bear most of the expense but something must be done to stem the tide of losing customers because of signal disputes.they are too dumb to know that they are creating nothing but ill-will amongst the players. Doubt they know,understand or care.
Mike
Eddie:
Although as Miff says the coverage on HRTV is not as good as the \"House\" feed on
Channel 71 (which I do not get on DirectTV), HRTV recently made its programming
available on the internet (see HRTV.com). HRTV presents the NYRA races live as
part of their daily programming.
Last week I bought myself a Holiday gift -- a one year subscription to HRTV\'s
live feed online at the very reasonable price of $49.99. This will allow me to
watch live racing from Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Fair Grounds and Churchill in
Living Room Downs without having to head to NYC Off Track Bankruptcy to watch the
races live.
I have been watching NYRA racing on TVG for the last four years, and their
coverage of New York racing is embarrassing, as most of their on air \"talent\" is
based on the West Coast. I guess the exceptions would be Matt Carothers (who
worked at Monmouth) and Simon Bray (who was an assistant to Bill Mott many years
ago), but even they seem much more up to speed on Racing on the Left Coast.
Another word on TVG: Listening to Ken Rudulph and Greg Wolf, it is very difficult
to believe that each of them has been covering Racing day in day out for the last
10 years. I will not mess with Mr. Rudulph, however; his TVG bio reveals that
while in the military he was an instructor in nuclear, chemical and biological warfare.
In my original post I shared my frustration about the monopoly/controlling interests of key groups that provide racing signals to off track betting sites. They are playing hard ball at a time this industry needs to sustain current bettors. Magna and Churchill are building walls between the \"sports bettor\" and any future fan of racing. Yes maybe the compulsive gambler will bet on whatever is available, but I would like more access.
Monopoly?? YES> HRTV is a joint venture owned by Magna Entertainment Corp. ("MEC"), and Churchill Downs Incorporated. The live racing content for HRTV is acquired by HRTV's sister company, TrackNet Media Group, which controls the signals for their tracks. They are demanding a much higher fee from this group of 17 major tracks that they do not own. As a result of the dispute between TrackNet Media Group and the MidAtlantic Cooperative, bettors at the 17 tracks are being denied the ability to watch and wager. In the meantime I cannot bet on their racing cards.
MEC and Churchill Downs together own Santa Anita Park, Churchill Downs Gulfstream Park and Calder Race Course , Lone Star Park , Arlington Park and Pimlico Race Course. MEC also operates XpressBet and Churchill Downs also has TwinSpires.com and Brisnet.
Yes Richiebee, HRTV charges(not 49.99) but $90 per year to send signal to our computers. But I still cannot bet on their tracks during the fight between them and 17 Mid Atlantic tracks.
They want to be paid more MONEY. Philadelphia area people cannot open accounts with TVG, Xpressbet, twinsipres, NJ4bets, NYRA, etc because of local laws and greed.
I used to wager online and watch on TVG/HRTV. As I\'ve become comfortable with what works for me and the angles I like, I watch less TV and the majority of the races online.
In trying to figure out what\'s going on in the Tracknet/MidAtlantic dispute, it would be useful to know some of the details like what rates are being asked for now by Tracknet vs. last year, prevailing rates for other tracks/otb sites, etc.
Anybody have this info or know where to find it?
While the clueless, business challenged racing execs play with their yo yo\'s, the players \"speak\" at the windows!
From DRF:
Handle for 2009 hits lowest total since 1996
By Matt Hegarty
Handle on U.S. Thoroughbred races in 2009 plunged 9.9 percent compared to 2008, sending handle to its lowest level since 1996, according to Equibase, as the recession and myriad internal problems continued to hammer away at the U.S. racing industry\'s declining market share.
Betting on U.S. races, including wagers made in foreign countries, was $12.3 billion in 2009, down from $13.7 billion in 2008. Handle has declined 16.3 percent since 2007, when wagering on U.S. races was $14.7 billion.
Purse money distributed in U.S. races in 2009 was also down, but to a lesser degree than handle, due in large part to subsidies from slot machines at racetracks. According to Equibase, total purse distribution was $1.09 billion in 2009, down 5.6 percent compared to purse distribution of $1.16 billion in 2008. The 2009 figure is the lowest since 2005, when purses were $1.085 billion.
Like nearly all entertainment industries outside of Hollywood, the racing industry has been battered by the drop in consumer confidence and discretionary income that has accompanied the country\'s deep recession. But the industry has also been fighting public-perception problems and a persistent loss of market share in a country where states are rapidly expanding gambling opportunities.
\"It would be a big mistake to blame all of this on the recession and think when it\'s all over we can just bounce back to where we were,\" said Chris Scherf, the executive vice president of the Thoroughbred Racing Associations, a racetrack trade group. \"We have big problems that need to be addressed in the industry, from the number of races run to problems with the wagering system. We have to get more customer-centric.\"
The credit crisis that played a large part in triggering the recession has also administered a beating to the bloodstock markets, leading to predictions that the U.S. foal crop will contract significantly over the next several years. To maintain field sizes attractive to bettors, most racing officials believe that the industry will have to offer far less racing days in the future.
According to the Equibase figures, race days contracted by 2.6 percent in 2009 compared to 2008, dropping from 6,093 to 5,934.
\"If people think we can go forward with the same number of races and offer the betting public five- or six-horse fields, this decline is going to continue,\" Scherf said. He also cited slot machines for skewing incentives at racetracks to offer more race days, rather than less, and \"giving racetracks a reason to do the exact opposite of what we need as an industry.\"
We need to keep on speaking!
He said, \"We have to get more customer-centric.\" Yeah, something like that wouldn\'t be a bad start.
The good news is that Scerf is absolutely correct that blaming the decline on the recession would be a mistake. The bad news is that even if those in charge listened to him (and us), they wouldn\'t know what to do or how to do it.
The biggest problem with this industry is the people who run it.
All one has to do is look at the opening weekend figures for GP; those declines are directly attributed to this \"Mexican standoff\" going on here!! Who blinks first.....who cares?? Rome burns while everybody fiddles...
Eddie:
Speaking of fiddling, I enjoy the Charlie Daniels/Geico TV commercial.
\"Thats how its done, son.\"
For those who say we as horseplayers have to stand up and be heard, the solution
is slightly more involved. After standing and speaking, you need to sit. Sit
squarely on your wallet. Let the folks in charge know that you are not
participating because you are not happy with Racing.
If I decide to boycott Racing, I wont start this weekend. As Covel points out,
Gulfstream provides some good wagering events. A race which caught my eye is race
5 at Fair Grounds, where some of the entrants are very hard knocking runners in
the 7YO - 11YO range, all of whom have solid recent form.
In the 6th at FG, there\'s an Asmussen runner on a 5 race win streak who seemed to
have moved up ever so slightly under Stevie\'s care during the Autumn.
Fair Grounds. Gulfstream. NFL wild card games. Mrs. Richiebee on a wild shopping
expedition which should keep her off-site for most of the day. Thats about the
best I can do at LRD in the dead of winter.
Thats how its done, son.
Seems like the boycott of racing is already going on---planned or unplanned.