The new streaming service from BAGS will enable the great British public to watch greyhound racing from their laptops and tablets.
And?
If I can’t be bothered to poke my head through a betting shop window, why would I be arsed to spend my precious leisure time watching half a dozen dodgy plodders engaged, as Sir Winston would describe it, in an exhibition of ‘animated roulette’
I cannot think of a more depressing and inaccurate term for an industry that has fascinated me for the past 43 years and five months.
The thing is, if the term had been coined in the last 20 years, I might have a little more sympathy.
At its best, greyhound racing can be fascinating. A challenge to apply an ounce of logic to a tablespoon of observation, stir in a few facts and statistics, add a smattering of inside information and garnish with a pinch of luck.
There is ‘class’ to consider, breeding, trap draws, going allowances, form, racing styles, and the fact that ‘Charlie can get them out of the boxes when it matters. . .’
That’s what it should be.
Unfortunately, the bean counters have taken over our sport.
They are the elves who populate dark corners of Ladbrokes Towers, the Coral Mansion and William Hill Plaza, living off the misery of punters.
They breathe figures, drink cold percentages, snack on winning margins, and gross yields.
They are the ones who dictate that we have to put up with 3-1 with homogenized boring racing where you cannot possibly win.
Fundamentally, they don’t understand the difference between betting and gaming. Betting is picking your wits against a Joe Coral, William Hill, or Tony Morris.
It is about assessing the form of a greyhound, racehorse or football team and blaming yourself when you get it wrong. You could have won, if your had only spotted . . . .
You cannot win at BAGS racing. It is designed that way. If you put the same six dogs in the traps week after week, the races are graded in such a way that they will all win in a random order but with 28% of you bet, or thereabouts, being deducted every week.
Now this kind of racing suits the gamers. Or at least it did. For years they would happily have gone through the card with multiple tricast combinations and every so often they would leave the betting shop with £350 quid. (Take the missus out for a meal out the ‘£150 winnings’ and discretely keep £200 for next week’s investments).
But then the FOBT machines arrived. They process punters like Colonel Saunders processes chickens.
Why spent a whole afternoon turning your £30 into £350 when a machine can do it in 20 minutes?
The elves love FOBT machines. They sleep in the back of them at night. What could be better than a money making machine with no (fixed by law) risk ?
It isn’t fair to fill the minds of the mugs with form and opinion. It doesn’t do them any good. Reduce the coverage on the betting shop walls, fill the TV screens with more loaded numbers games and fire up the machines.
Greyhound racing? Just a cheap filler to stop punters getting bored as they queue up for a machine.
I visit a betting shop about once a year. Every time I go back, there are less punters than before.
It seems to be largely an age thing. Most of my dad’s mates knew how to place a bet, fewer of mine, and even less of the X-Box generation.
Interestingly, most of the ’20 somethings’ who I know, DO bet. Although a few play on-line roulette, the bigger majority, by far, have discovered betting through football and other sports. Their punting is done via their laptops, tablets or phones.
So – a new generation of gamblers – not gamers – who bet in decimals.
The problem for greyhound racing is that the lads with laptops don’t understand it.
Greyhound racing still presents its form in a way that would baffle most accountants – “I understand ‘growth yield expectations’, but what the hell is a ‘crd 1 blk 2’ or a ‘w bd d’?
When it comes to the information gap, the blame lays firmly with the greyhound industry who have made minimal effort to engage their evolving audience.
Why does it matter?
Well, if you subscribe to the ‘betting v gaming’ theory, you cannot engage the millions of sports betting punters unless they understand their subject.
And when you do, you have to give them more ‘SKY’ and less ‘BAGS’ racing.
Live streaming is a great opportunity for the greyhound and betting industries, but unless it is managed intelligently and promoted enthusiastically, it might as well stay in the betting shops.
