1. The introduction of cameras to show the viewing audience the ‘hole cards’ of each player so viewers - not just players - were more engaged and had a better appreciation of what was going on
2. An internet player won the World Series - suddenly any perceived barrier about who could play and win tournaments was smashed and more people wanted to both watch and play to the point know where there are half a dozen different broadcasts per week.

Two fundamental changes transformed Holdem. How engaging do administrators and broadcasters make harness racing for the general public? Has harness racing provided any real innovation to attract a wider audience in the past decade or two? And from punting and owning harness horses how ‘open’ in the industry? My observation after several years is not very.

And for the record I have shares in several pacers here in Australia and know of most of Norm’s top 10. I was at the Elitloppet in 2001, also Christian Cullen’s Miracle Mile, Elsu was a great result for winning the Hunter Cup. Personally I’d add Golden Reign’s InterDominion. But I do have concerns about the future directions of harness racing and the seeming lack of innovation and strategy

Here’s something close:

“There are few things that are so unpardonably neglected in our country as poker. The upper class knows very little about it. Now and then you find ambassadors who have sort of a general knowledge of the game, but the ignorance of the people is fearful. Why, I have known clergymen, good men, kind-hearted, liberal, sincere, and all that, who did not know the meaning of a “flush.” It is enough to make one ashamed of the species.” ~Mark Twain

I take your point but how is it possible to get regular folk exited about those horses/races. If I am watching poker on TV and there is 12 million sitting on table - anybody in my lounge, whether their interested in poker or not, will sit down to see what’s going on. I don’t think you could say the same about horse racing (same goes for most sports though - motor sport, baseball etc).

I watch both horse racing and poker quite a bit, and when racing is on nobody will even come near the room. But when poker is on they will sit down and watch a little - at least until they get bored. You can talk passionately about harness racing, but I’m guessing that that enthusiasm didn’t happen overnight. So if people that have no horse racing interest don’t even want to watch even a little, they’re never going to watch enough to become passionate about it.

1. Life Sign
2. Real Desire
3. Life Sign
4. Solvalla - “The Elitelopp”
5. Deweycheatumnhowe
6. Christian Cullen’s (NZ) Miracle Mile 1998 in Australia
7. Elsu NZ
8. Popular Alm (Australia)
9. Falcon Seelster - Ohio 1985
AND
10. Love This Life (Australia) - Yes this ones mine. That other “sport” will never give the rush that watching, or training, or driving your own horse to a win will do.

(i stopped at 10 but could have kept listing almost indefinitely)
I remember reading an old blokes tale: A man with an untried 2 year old race / harness horse never committs suicide - because theres always hope. I’ve never read or heard that about a pack of cards

Feel free to use the image on your blog if you like.

I remember back in the late 1980’s when I started attending the track regularly. There were no pay phones. Why? Because they did not want people to make bets with illegal bookies. That’s fine. Illegal bookies made up to 10% of handles (so anecdotally we hear) and it was a cost effective way to hinder that. It had value.

But this is 2008. How many people want to play legally online but can not because they can’t see video? It’s a chicken and egg argument we should not be having (imo). Free video should be distributed for all. (and I notice it has gotten a lot better…. Georgian, Grand River, the Meadowlands and many others offer it free now).

Just another note if I can, which might help to see where I am coming from on free video: I get free programs from Woodbine. Woodbine has a very good program for bettors. Free programs, some coupons for dinners, that kind of thing. When I go get programs now, I get all of them. When I was paying for them I would just get the Meadowlands and Woodbine/Mohawk and that’s it. Or I would bring them from home printed off the computer. With that relatively inexpensive perk I tend to read them and play a few dollars now and again into those pools - pools I would never play into. I do not think the principle is very different with free video.

Keep plugging away on the blog!. Great work!

Allan, illegal gambling is already huge worldwide. Legal live video monetized by horeseplayers already exists in various forms outside of official channels - Day At The Track comes to mind but there are others.

My understanding is that these company’s have financial agreements with Racetracks so that the dollars flows through to purses. In New Zealand those in power don’t want Kiwi’s using these offshore services as it means people will gamble more offshore and less in NZ. But surely if it was legal worldwide then the free market would mean betting dollars would even out?

I recognize there would be issues to overcome to make sure dollars flow into purses, but a blanket statement like “You can’t have live racing video available on the web” seems like a pretty big assumption to me.

What would happen if you started with the assumption that you needed to have live video online, and then worked to address the issues from there.

Update: Greg Blanchard has an article on Woodbine’s site along a similar vein here:

http://www.woodbineentertainment.com/woodbinecolumn/Column/Column.aspx?id=21

That being said, there is no reason why you can’t show replays and make programs available for free through legal wagering venues. For the programs, I would make them free if you bet through that site X dollars a month or if you register at a racetrack site. No need to make wagering easier through these illegal wagering sources.

Most excellent post!