A great day for the sport.

[MaTH716]

Originally Posted by Dahoss

I totally agree that the 3 to 4 horse thing isn't really helping a newbie. But do we really want to teach people to identify the favorite every race and try and make money with it?

I don't have the right answer, and I'm not necessarily saying you are wrong. Of course everyone isn't going to "understand" everything about handicapping. But, as we all eventually did, we got introduced and found a method we use. I just wonder if oversimplifying things would become counterproductive.

Exposure or lack of is also a big problem facing the game. How many newbies who were at Belmont on Saturday, would know how to access (not even talk about betting yet) races just to watch? After a while of watching, you would hope that some of these people would start wanting to bet some races. Obviously educating these fans and teaching them how to cap is an issue that some what goes hand in hand with this. But, this is an area that I thought NYRA did a poor job this weekend. They should have had kiosks promoting NYRA Awards accounts. Explain to people that don't know, that you can watch and wager at home. Give people 20% (random number) towards their account for every dollar they deposit. At least throw the net out and try to gain some more interest in the sport. Like I said, I really thought that they dropped the ball in this aspect.

Doug brings up poker, it's programmed and advertised on consistent basis. The more I think about it, he could be on to something with the exchange wagering idea. Poker players could go hours without playing a hand, so that needing the constant action/thrill isn't really an issue. I almost look at it like the way people day trade. I'm still not 100% how it works, but from what I know it's really a very interesting concept.