Somewhere on Facebook there is a picture of a lecturer in front of an enormous blackboard. It is covered with half an acre of mathematical equation containing letters, numbers, and a variety of mysterious squiggles and symbols including one that looks like a panda on a bike.
The caption says something about “understanding the female mind”. It isn’t the least bit funny – or so I have been advised!!!
In a month’s time when we are celebrating greyhound racing’s 90th anniversary, we will inevitably be looking forward and the equation predicting the future of greyhound racing will need to be twice as complex.
One corner of the equation will encompass BAGS’ announcement, as predicted several months ago, of their split with SIS.
GBGB Chairman Tom Kelly foresaw the break-up several years ago when still the BAGS CEO, as he dished out contracts tying tracks into the organisation (and giving long term security) until 2019.
(For those confused by the relationship, BAGS administer afternoon greyhound racing on behalf of the betting shops, SIS deliver the pictures and commentaries. Both organisations apparently feel that the other is the dispensable middleman.)
In a battle that resembles the clash between Turf TV and BAGS/SIS in 2008. At least one will be on the winning side this time.
Opinions are divided as to who will prevail – SIS supported by Coral and Ladbrokes, or BAGS.
In the meantime, there will surely be opportunities for Britain’s dwindling number of greyhound tracks to extract some very favourable deals from one side or the other. There will be a premium on available greyhounds, which should in itself see an improvement in trainers’ terms and conditions.
Some of this has been covered before. But in a separate virgin section of blackboard we should perhaps consider the whole future of betting.
The ‘betting industry’ is dominated by three companies with around 6,400 betting shops between them. That may soon become ‘the big two’ assuming Coral and Ladbrokes are allowed to merge, probably with the sale of at least 300 (less profitable) shops.
But might the whole betting industry be on the verge of major upheaval?
We know that turnover on live action is in freefall as shops become increasingly dependent on the controversial FOBTs (fruit machines).
But betting hasn’t stopped – it has evolved. It was recently estimated that 74% of the betting on this year’s European Football Championships will take place on phones and internet.
Is it inconceivable that betting shops will follow video shops out of the high streets? Or will they close down like the thousands of pubs whose customers now buy their booze at Tesco and drink it at home – watching SKY?
The point is, Hills, Ladbrokes and Coral are ‘the betting industry’ simply because they have dominated the high streets. When it comes to internet betting, they are in the shade of Bet365 and Betfair, who don’t own a shop between them.
The betting shops who blossomed following legislation in 1961 closed tracks because they were a more convenient way to bet. Technology now looks set to make them obsolete.
What’s more, that technology can now offer greyhound tracks the chance to become their own bookies.
Towcester are already producing their own exceptional quality internet coverage on Towcester TV. Why would they need a bookmaker deal if punters can bet directly into their own tote from their phones?
There is another possible variable to the equation. Might being free from the shackles of BAGS/SIS encourage tracks to provide better quality racing?
Twenty years ago I asked a prominent stadium controller why his bookmaker owned track insisted on graded, A8,A8,A7,A6 dross, instead of quality racing over a variety of distances. His reply, no doubt scripted by one of the grey accountants further up the food chain was “because the punters prefer it”.
No! Despite the fact that the bookmaker owned tracks produce some of the best open racing on some of the best tracks, their paymasters are happy to use greyhound racing as cheap filler between horse racing, and/or anything else they can find for the betting shops.
Many promoters have undoubtedly grown lazy providing mundane racing with a BAGS cheque guaranteed.
But now, at the press of a thumb on an app, the punter can choose the most interesting and exciting racing for himself.
Who could have calculated that?
