Harness: Cultivating our new players into repeat customers

In my last column, I wrote about the missed opportunity for Standardbred racetracks in not being permitted to race, while several other thoroughbred tracks marched forward through the pandemic. Unfortunately, for harness racing, the vast majority of their racetracks are within a short distance of the "hot-spot" of this pandemic, making it all but impossible to get their noses back on the gate.

That appears to be changing, as just this past week Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that all New York racetracks may commence racing on June 1, under certain restrictions. Given the history of synonymous action between New York and New Jersey during this crisis, one would imagine that soon Governor Phil Murphy will be making a similar announcement. Perhaps a missed opportunity will turn into a delayed opportunity.

Sports are slowly coming back, but I would underline the word slowly. At best, Major League Baseball is six weeks away from the start of a regular season. Talks of the NBA and NHL resuming play are based around similar timeframes. But none of those are a certainty. It seems that racing, albeit without spectators, is the one guaranteed option.

However, I am fearful. I am fearful because I expect most racetracks in harness racing to look at their lost revenue from the past two months, look at the lost revenue from on-track handle in the coming months and make the determination that pricing increases are needed. By that I mean takeout and host fees. When in reality, that is the opposite of what should be done. This will also put a shield over their eyes in terms of all the innovative things they should be doing to cater to this new audience.

Gamblers have limited options right now and because of that, many have turned their attention to horse racing. But, because of a blended takeout rate of roughly 20 percent, these new horse players are losing money at a faster rate than they do at a blackjack or poker table, on a slot machine, or placing bets on sports. Some of them will look at a win/loss statement in the near future from their ADW and discover they are losing 30 percent of the money they are playing and will quickly abandon racing for other opportunities.

While I don't have any numbers to concretely solidify this point, logic dictates that at this very moment there are more new gamblers betting on horse racing than at any point of the last 10 years, with the exception of the Kentucky Derby. This is a time that we should be incentivizing those players to stick with racing.

We are at a point where the only way to wager on horse racing is through an Advance Deposit Wagering platform. While that is racing’s savior at the moment, one year from now racetracks will likely see a trend that a noticeable amount of their regular on-track patrons never came back to the actual racetrack and are still wagering with their ADW. It is also the only avenue through which new players are wagering. Racetracks should be collaborating with their online partners to help support a system that maximizes incentives to rebate these players, put more money in their pockets and place them on the road to becoming a regular horse player.

Each racetrack should be using its online platforms to provide simplified information to new players to help move them forward and become more seasoned horseplayers. This can be done with online tutorials and handicapping shows through its websites and YouTube channels geared toward these new players that really simplify the process of handicapping races.

This cannot be treated as business as usual. There is an opportunity here where gamblers are quite literally falling into the racetracks laps without putting a cent into marketing their product. Gamblers are signing up for ADW accounts, looking at the racetracks available and just bouncing from one to the other, looking for action.

Every new horseplayer that is kept as a horseplayer once the other gambling options return, is a net-win for the industry. This needs to be treated as the massive opportunity that it is. Imagine any business where most of the other competitors are closed and all of the customers are literally funneled toward your front door. That is what is happening to horse racing right now and what will happen to harness racing very soon. It cannot be taken lightly. These new players need to feel comfortable in gambling their money. They need to be educated on how to properly wager on the races and they need to be incentivized to continue to do so.

Right now racetracks should have their on-air talent producing videos from their homes that are essentially "Handicapping 101" segments. Harness racing should start with the basics. Explain the difference between a Standardbred and Thoroughbred. Explain how Standardbreds are typically more consistent in performance, more durable, race mostly every week and thus are not the mystery that Thoroughbreds can often be. Explain the difference between a trotter and a pacer. Explain the driver vs. the jockey. Then, get into the betting, explaining the different wagers available. Encourage simple bets to start like Win, Daily Double and Exacta. Talk about managing bankroll. Talk about how often favorites win. Go into handicapping and breakdown the racing program, explaining what is actually being shown to the bettors so that it doesn’t look like hieroglyphics to them.

All of this should be done so these new players feel comfortable in risking their hard-earned money on racing, and the product needs to be priced properly, so these players are incentivized to remain horseplayers. Doing anything less than this will be an immense opportunity that is lost.