It's the Betting ...... Stupid.

If you are like myself, and yearly read the Arizona Symposium on Racing and Gaming news with more than a dash of "same old same old" from track execs who seem to be living in the 1930's, this year's kickoff is a shocker.

Dana Parham, the money-man behind Odds On Racing and bettor, had some choice words for the leaders in our business. From the Bloodhorse.com article:

Parham said the pari-mutuel industry is being hindered by at least three things on the human level: a lack of leadership, personal agendas, and uninformed decision-makers.

Parham argued racing is about betting, and that “opening and advertising our pools as financial markets will attract large risk capital and will grow handle and revenue at a much faster rate than trying to win over one $2 bettor at a time.”

Hear, hear Mr. Parham. With the talk of the last ten years you would think that a few balloons and a free t-shirt or concert can fix this business. It is nice to hear someone speak of things wacky like pricing when talking about turning the game around.

Now the big question: Will anyone be listening?