Before Stradivarius turned the Yorkshire Cup into a procession, why were those numpties on ITV Racing discussing doing away with bookies and having a tote monopoly – the examples they cited being Hong Kong and Australia?
The genie got out of the bottle nearly sixty years ago and there is no way to re-cork it. If they scrapped the bookies in this country, horse racing would be finished in less than five years. The bookies put a lot of sponsorship money into racing on top of the Levy (admitted sponsoring a lot of the low quality fixtures). That would be replaced with nothing as a great many people would never bother betting if the tote was the only option. I certainly would not – the last bet I had in France was when Midday won the Vermeille in 2010. I put my bets on with the British bookies before I go. Betting with twenty odd per cent deductions is for the FOBTs.
The genie got out of the bottle nearly sixty years ago and there is no way to re-cork it. If they scrapped the bookies in this country, horse racing would be finished in less than five years. The bookies put a lot of sponsorship money into racing on top of the Levy (admitted sponsoring a lot of the low quality fixtures). That would be replaced with nothing as a great many people would never bother betting if the tote was the only option. I certainly would not – the last bet I had in France was when Midday won the Vermeille in 2010. I put my bets on with the British bookies before I go. Betting with twenty odd per cent deductions is for the FOBTs.
