Confronting Ever-Changing Gambling Landscape

Breeders' Cup partnered with DraftKings last year and the two companies will work together in the future to create promotional events and contests. (Photos by Eclipse Sportswire)
In the next few years, the wagering landscape figures to undergo some incredibly dramatic changes.
It seems inevitable that sports wagering will be become a reality in numerous states at some point in the not too distant future, which promises to have an tremendous impact on horse racing.
It could take a huge bite out of the sport’s already shrinking wagering handle.
Or it could introduce legions of people to legalized wagering and widen the pool of potential customers for racing.
Yet is someone who wants to wager $100 that the Green Bay Packers will beat the Chicago Bears by more than 5 ½ points a candidate to evolve into someone who will make a $10 exacta bet on the fifth race at Aqueduct?
That’s the dilemma facing racing. In an era of expanded gambling, how does it attract enough new customers to remain viable?
There’s no easy answer, but part of the solution involves realizing what’s popular in mainstream America and weaving it into racing’s framework.
It is ideas like creating fantasy games or a handicapping tournament structured like the NCAA basketball tournament.
These ideas are not being pitched as sure-fire home runs from Day One and they will not spark a huge and immediate surge in wagering. Yet they shouldn’t be discounted because they will not generate millions upon millions of revenue within a month of their launch. Sometimes baby steps are needed and surely there’s value in finding ways to attract the interest of that large segment of Americans who currently have no of idea of what a trifecta is. It’s quite logical that more people will become aware of the sport if racing embraces forms of wagering people know and understand.
Fantasy sports, especially in football, are the rage right now as reflected in the amazing growth of online wagering sites such as DraftKings and FanDuel. DraftKings entered into a partnership with Breeders’ Cup last year and sponsored the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint and will work with Breeders’ Cup to create promotional events and contests.
That’s a great first step. Now why not take that partnership to the next level and create horse racing fantasy games.
Racing fans have already created their own fantasy/rotisserie games for the Triple Crown and talk about them on Twitter. A game along those lines linked to a big jackpot could motivate sports fans to enter them and learn more about racing.
For a quicker payoff, how about a fantasy game based on the horses running in weekend stakes?
The key here is not tossing too much at new fans right away. Don’t ask them to make boxed exacta bets. Just let them pick a group of horses, just as they would when they choose players for their fantasy football lineups, and follow along. If they like what they’re doing, in time they’ll migrate to exactas, superfectas and Pick 4’s.
HAVING STAKES WEEKEND DRAFTS COULD BUILD INTEREST IN RACE GAMBLING

Years ago, Connecticut Off-Track Betting came up with a novel fantasy pari-mutuel wager on the Breeders’ Cup called Stable Wars. It involved 10 “stables” of three horses and a jockey running in Breeders’ Cup races. A sliding scale of points was awarded for top three finishes in BC races, and the order of finish for win and exacta wagers was based on point totals. That format was ahead of its time and faded into oblivion, but now it could tap into the sports fantasy craze.
Beyond the Breeders’ Cup, the “Stable Wars” concept could be used to build interest in an entire card of racing on a major day, such offering it on Triple Crown days or a “Super Saturday” program.
Handicapping tournaments can also become a tool to reach new customers. They have become increasingly popular due to the growth of the Daily Racing Form/National Thoroughbred Racing Association National Handicapping Championship. Yet these contests are not ideal for coverage in the mainstream media because of large fields and a short time frame.
So why not have a showcase tournament with a small field that stretches out over several weekends with plenty of time to generate publicity? Instead of the typical format with a wild scramble for the top prize among 200 or more contestants, create an event that mirrors the NCAA Basketball Tournament.
TOURNAMENTS LIKE MARCH MADNESS ARE EASY TO FOLLOW AND FUN FOR NEW FANS

This would be a 64-person (no double entries, please), head-to-head contest with six rounds over three weekends on Saturdays and Sundays in March and April, playing out like the NCAA’s famous bracket. Instead of Duke vs. UConn, it could be Michael Beychok vs. John Conte with the winner of that day’s competition advancing to the next round.
The seedings for the brackets could be determined randomly or by a selection committee based on past NHC success.
It would be held online for the first four rounds during the same time frame as the NCAA Tournament. That would lead to a Final Four, which would share a stage on the same weekend as the NCAA’s Final Four and could be held at a host racetrack for maximum exposure. Keeneland, Aqueduct, Santa Anita, Oaklawn and Gulfstream are among the tracks open that final weekend and would be great venues for a showcase event.
The advantage of this format is that virtually all sports fans understand the win-and-advance aspects of such brackets. Millions of them join bracket pools when March Madness rolls around. It would also generate numerous marketing and publicity opportunities because a head-to-head matchup is easier for the uninitiated to follow than an event where someone could skyrocket from 250th to 1st thanks to a $65 winner.
Local media outlets are more likely to follow their “hometown heroes” under this format because there’s a lengthy lead-in into each round and the results are simpler to relate them. It would be no different for them than reporting on March Madness.
Getting a matchup of their unknown “hometown hero” against a famous pro like Christian Hellmers would be great story to preview and follow and could surely raise awareness.
None of these ideas are strokes of genius, but they and others like them could at least play a small role in enhancing racing’s presence as it braces for a new wave of competition.
If you can’t beat them, is there anything wrong with joining them?