TIF: Wagering Insecurity, Part 4–Confidence

[Wandering Eyes]

This is Part 4 of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's (TIF) series “Wagering Insecurity.”

Faced with remarkable competitive pressure from the rise of legal sports betting, horse racing is at a crossroads. Confidence amongst horseplayers and horse owners is essential to the future sustainability of the sport. Efforts to improve the greater North American Thoroughbred industry will fall flat if its stakeholders fail to secure a foundation of integrity. Achieving this is growing increasingly difficult after the sport has neglected its core base–horseplayers–for decades.

“Wagering Insecurity” details some of that neglect, and the need to embrace serious reform. Fortunately, there are examples across the racing world to follow.

In the year following the Fix Six scandal, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) spent almost $3 million to tackle the issues facing the wagering arm of the industry. Consultants were hired, reports were published and the plan was to launch a National Office of Wagering Security.

Horseplayers were consulted. Regulators acknowledged the issues. Even one major track operator admitted the racetracks own self-oversight was not enough to build confidence amongst customers.

Everyone involved said the right thing.

The national office was desperately needed. Millions more were pledged.

In June 2005, the NTRA published financial projections for the next five years which showed a plan to contribute $1 million annually from 2006 to 2010 for the project. Just 18 months later, total spending amounted to less than $150,000 and the national office was gone by 2008.

Almost nothing was accomplished.

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