The legalisation of Dog Racing was discussed in parliament last week. As usual there are two opposing lobbies and the debate has a long road to walk still. It is another sign though that Horseracing needs to start pulling up its socks so that effective counter measures are in place if, and when, the dogs start barking. Certainly a case for a policy of service excellence to be introduced without delay.
Interestingly when discussing horseracing, the Gambling Review Commission proposed a clear separation of racecourse ownership from that of totes and tightening of the regulations on the financing and taxing of bookmakers, totes and other betting offices. If passed, the ownership separation issue could positively take us back a few decades. That though may not be a bad thing at all and in these incestuously complex days of vague accountability, demergers, dividends and funding high jinks , it could certainly be a step in the right direction for certain pressured interest groups.
Countering the dog threat is a priority and it is a great excuse to start sitting up and reviewing how poorly customers are treated. Setting up an internal industry commission tasked with the responsibility of improving the total customer experience both on and off-course is a good starting point in my book. That aspect of the horseracing business falls under nobody’s responsibility right now and the efforts to win lost market share back from the casinos, as one example, has really been a circus exercise. And our commission needs to include all stakeholders, including punters and owners, so that real issues are brought to the surface.
Does anybody care?
Some minor irritants in the past few days come to mind. Tellytrack presenter Shaheen Shaw warns punters every day to be wary of taking the finishing positions called by the Swedish Harness Racing commentator as gospel. Shaw suggests that punters should ‘avoid disappointment’ and rather wait for the final numbers to go up. His colleague Cecil Mthembu also made a valid point on Sunday regarding the Soccer Ten pool not being updated. He made a plea to the ‘tote’ for it to be rectified. Then the ‘service provider’ to the Tab website is also blamed day in and out. What about the Place Accumulator minimum dividend issue? It is another point that I have brought up for years. It has never been rectified. You will find three minimum dividends going into the final leg on most days – one on Saftote, a different one on Tabgold and a third on Tellytrack. These days I trust the Tellytrack figure. These are such mickey mouse miniscule issues that could be resolved in the blink of an eye. Phone the Swedish Authorities – tell them their commentator is cocking things up. Get somebody in the Tote Management to take responsibility to ensure that the Soccer pools are updated so that the hype snowballs. Fire the website service provider. The PA minimum dividend is so simple. But nobody seems to care.
To their credit, Gold Circle did attempt to introduce a patron support recognition programme a few years ago via a Members MVG card system. But the specifics were shockingly ill conceived and the concept died a death before its first birthday, with more red faces and many unanswered questions as to who really benefitted from the exercise. I cannot think of one solid customer orientated initiative since then.
Dog racing, a pipe dream?
Dog racing in South Africa is not a far-fetched pipe dream. It certainly appears to operate very profitably in tandem with horseracing in societies very similar to our own. All of Australia, Ireland, Great Britain, New Zealand and the USA are considered the world leaders. Last week’s parliamentary debate was conducted by a commission set up to review the gambling industry in South Africa. They appear to be against the legalisation based chiefly on fears of the welfare of the animals and the concern that there are not enough punters to support it. Review Commission chairwoman Astrid Ludin said that there was ‘limited demand’ and in view of the ‘problems associated with it’ , it should not be legalised. Politics Lecturer Stephen Louw said that it wasn’t clear that South Africa had the capacity to regulate dog racing, which he said was often little more than a backyard operation. He also observed that in countries where dog racing was popular, problems arose over the retirement of animals as well as overbreeding. Sound familiar? It has many parallels with horseracing.
A representative for Earthlife Africa, Warwick Humphris, said: “These animals are just being used as a resource to make money. We are mostly concerned about the living conditions of these dogs because most of them don’t receive proper care.” The National Council of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals added: “South Africa is a developing country and cannot be compared to racing societies such as the UK. It can’t be reasonably assumed that in future, we even get close to the levels of countries where dog racing has been developed for 80 years.”
The pro dogracing lobby will point out that South Africa is losing out on R1.5 billion a year in potentially lost taxation, by not recognizing the need to legalize the greyhound racing industry. This is according to Amatwini Sport, a group that represents the greyhound breeding fraternity in the country and is a member of the prestigious United Greyhound Racing and Breeders Association.
Speaking on behalf of Amatwini, Shane Brody said that the high unemployment rate in South Africa could be brought down, thanks to a legalized greyhound racing industry, with the potential to create over 30,000 jobs. Brody explained that South Africa could join other countries in the west where greyhound racing is not only legal, but also brings in billions of rand in tourist income, taxation and as a contributor to gross domestic product. In the UK and USA, Brody says that it is the second most watched sport after soccer, and he points out again that the taxation of the sport would be beneficial to the country.
I did ask Gold Circle for a comment on their attitude to the dogs, their contingency plans and whether they saw it as a threat to their business. But at the time of going to press I had received no response.
