Jessica links to a news feed story graph for Kentucky Derby buzz. 2009 is like a turtle. Slow and steady does not win the race with buzz. This year the mainstream press is not covering the Derby as it has. This is unfortunate for racing knuckleheads like us, but even more disconcerting is that this year looks like it will be a good race and the crop looks solid. I think we'll have to be more proactive in promoting these days. Simply offering something in racing does not guarantee it will be covered.
They're in the Gate looks at TV ratings compared to other sports this last weekend, and racing. We got our butts kicked by figure skating. I do not think TV is the way to go. People can not get hooked on watching racing via that medium any longer. Our game, because it allows betting legally is our hook for interactivity. If you do not do something to link the two, I think we will be spending money frivolously with zero ROI. If you look at Sweden and its V75 (the weekly pick 7 that is akin to a lottery sold everywhere), they have huge interest in the race day via broadcast. Why? People are playing the V75 and want to see how they do. I would submit, per capita this is the most highly rated racing broadcast for harness in the world. The buzz created with this spins off to commercials, and damn good ones. This is not 'come watch harness racing and play the V75', this is 'play the V75 and come watch harness racing'. This is not a subtle difference and in my opinion we have this backwards in North America.
The population of Sweden is just a bit larger than the population of the Greater Toronto area/Golden Horseshoe. They had a $35M pot for one of the V75's this past year.
Nice buzz for Will Rogers last week for HANA. This week? Everyone can play, including Canadians in their HPI accounts. Tampa Bay Downs.
I am half way done looking and jotting some thoughts down on Breeders Crown 2010 at Pocono.
Lastly, Greg has been found. Thankfully Luc has not put him to work cleaning stalls. He is back in Pittsburgh, lounging around watching TVG or somethin'. He's safe and sound.
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6 comments:
re: pocono downs
don't forget 35% takeout
on tris and supers
cheers
Thanks for the link on the TV ratings. I agree, lets push the interactive angle of the sport. Let's find our niche and market that way.
ATG who run all harness racing betting in Sweden have done a tremendous job marketing the V75. People who couldn't care less about horses buy their ticket to the V75 at the same time they buy their lottery ticket. The V75 bet has a tremendous potential and the next step ATG have done is to promote the bet world-wide.
Last year the handle on ATG was about 12 billion Swedish crowns with 1 billion coming from countries outside Sweden. There's only that much money that can be bet in Sweden. Expect the increase coming from world-wide betting. The buzz is indeed making itself heard...
Hi Janne,
Do you play the bet? Do you actually walk into a corner store or do you have to go to a betting shop? Is it easy for everyone to get a bet down?
Interested to know a bit more about it.
PTP
I live in Sweden and have been betting on Swedish harness racing for about 15 years. You can make your bets in several different ways. About 30-40% of ATG's handle comes from the Internet through their website. You can also make your bets from corner stores or betting shops (OTB's parlours in your part of the world). The thing is that you can even buy your V75 ticket from certain grocery stores when you've done your grocery shopping.
The key behind the success of the bet is that "everyone" (in Sweden) makes a bet into the pool. There are a lot of handicapping tools out on the market which have been instrumental on bringing in cash from the "high-rollers" into the V75-pool. In contrast to this you can also on bet computer-generated picks which have been really successful generating in several big pay-outs.
But as usual you have to pick your rounds to bet in. As always you must be looking for value and despite the huge pools there's not value around to bet every round of the V75.
/Janne
Thanks for the response and thank you for reading the blog Janne. I always like to hear what others are doing, and what other perspectives are working.
Thanks again.
PTP
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