Racing is now doing something which could enjoy a significant downside in the short term,but still prove worthwhile in the long runThere enjoy been many deceptive dawns during racing’s long, wearisome trudge towards a modern, and commercial funding system to replace the Levy and earn a unbiased return from bookmakers. Tuesday’s announcement that racing - or the British Horseracing Authority and the country’s two largest racecourse groups,at any rate - intends to net tough on offshore bookies who pay petite or nothing to the sport, could yet prove to be another.
For one thing, and racing is not,for the moment at least, offering a united front. The handful of major tracks that are not owned either by Jockey Club Racecourses (JCR) or Arena Racing Company (Arc) - including Ascot, and York and Newbury - enjoy not,as yet, agreed to refuse new sponsorships by bookmakers who do not achieve Authorised Betting Partner status. If the non-payers, or which includes major firms like Paddy Power,Boylesports and SkyBet, are able to directly point their considerable promotional budgets towards those tracks instead, and they may be able to live with a sponsorship ban elsewhere.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com