Attracting the younger generation is the Holy Grail. Unfortunately, we can’t depend on current industry leaders to make it happen based on their woeful track record. Mktng breakthroughs are likely to come from those like yourself who represent a younger generation with fresh ideas.

AmCap – Your negativity is justified and your analysis of the situation is spot on. While I love going to the track, the lack of customer service, modern amenities, getting “nickel and dimed,” and simply not having time to fight traffic, has made internet wagering the better option. However, Del Mar, Saratoga, and Keeneland show that people will travel miles for a quality racing experience.

Re: the imminent ADW; it may not recruit new players to the game but it can attract casual horseplayers that aren’t currently betting online or going to the track for many reasons. Pursuing efforts in parallel to get more people interested in racing. Time will tell . . .

Thanks guys for the great comments.

Horse racing players and enthusiasts must deal with varying distances and surfaces, human variables from the vets, farriers, trainers, jockeys, starters and to a lesser extent owners, and the weather. There’s a main track that is a 1 1/2 miles oval, others are a mile, while smaller tracks can be 5/8 mile where a route is around three turns.

Slot players know that they will find whatever gimmick machine they prefer in every single casino. Nickel players will allow machines to give them some 20+ chances to win which means they’re actually playing on a dollar machine. They can be certain to find a stool to sit on, the familar metal shape and colors, a spin dial that doesn’t require the strength/endurance it took to pull in the past, and a machine that will suck up money without needing a cashier or change cart.

Casinos have made it easy for a player to stay in front of a machine as long as they want, in a temperature-controlled setting, with drink hostesses providing the “nourishment” or “courage” to stay the course to winning or losing. They force people of all shapes and sizes, differing ages, and varying physical abilities to come to their facilities. There’s no online slot machine games taking money out of the casinos.

Racetracks require elderly and/or disabled patrons to brave the weather extremes, spend at least $10 prior to placing a bet or finding a seat, get up every 20-30 miniutes to find a cashier or self-service machine, then be absolutely removed from the simulcast environment when they return to their seats….that is if the paper they placed to save their spot hasn’t been blown away and another player argues there was no paper present before sitting down.

By ignoring “creature comforts” for the enthusiasts and players alike, they’ve forced people to other into their homes to watch other sports and onto the internet to play poker. With all due respect, your proposed ADW site will do nothing to recruit fans to the racetracks . You are simply preaching to the choir. You’ll be fighting sites like xpressbet, youbet, tvg, etc. for market share of a shrinking base of horse racing fans.

Without a hierarchy in racing to protect the game for at least the rest of this century, the race horse owners and trainers, individual racetrack owners and ADW companies will run horse racing into the ground in their market share tug of war. Horse racing will eventually fade further into the sports abyss and many racetracks will look like Hialeah Park as it was for decades.

Sorry for the negativity, just calling it as I see it.

Given this situation, you must wonder if anyone in the horse racing industry truly believes in its own product?

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Obviously they don’t.
And we’ve got gaming companies coming in to take over the racetracks such as Pennwood, Boyd’s, Harrahs’s MTR Gaming

Why would they care about catering to the horse racing customer? Why would they care about lowering the takeout rates and building a proficient, profitable and loyal base of fans that come to the track to wager?

Why should they care about the future of the parimutuel industry?

The invasion of the gaming companies are the problem at the very root of why Horse Racing finds itself lowering purses, reducing racing dates, and finds the grandstands emptying and leaving enough room for …

…yet another slot machine.