It is a reality that most discussions on racing or the state of racing tends to focus on what is wrong in the game whilst very little is said about the many good things that have been able to stand the test of time. The really regrettable thing is how little is said about the need to grow the racing customer base which betting operators are dodging very effectively by concentrating efforts on everything but racing, writes Leon Smuts.
Racing is as exciting as ever and despite all the criticism will continue to provide marketable entertainment and importantly a livelihood to many in both a commercial wagering and agricultural role.
The raw beauty of the sport is undeniable and most people grow to love the majestic animals once exposed to the game for an extended period of time. It is nurturing this love that needs targeting if we are to grow racing effectively and this will not happen without products focussing predominantly on entertainment ahead of only a pure wagering drive.
I can find a few holes in the marketing efforts or lack thereof that racing has to contend with but let’s rather look at the positives that should be concentrated on if we want to see racing returning to the dominant position it occupied a few decades ago.
Without wavering from my stance that product development holds the key to racing’s future success it is important that efforts should specifically focus on players and the playing experience rather than pushing the wagering side and the size of individual involvement ahead of all else.
On the positive side racing is a game of skill, but the challenge in a modern society is to get people to learn, which is an extremely difficult task. Just think back to a television or mobile purchase and the reluctance to read the manual. Even the quick start guide can cause offense to most.
It is this general attitude to information and learning in developing wagering skills in a racing context, with its unfortunate long learning curve, which is a huge obstacle standing in the way of making our sport an attractive pastime or activity.
The reality is that this is probably the single most important challenge that has to be overcome, as skilled players are very unlikely to leave the game given the frequent or occasional success that could be had, once a certain level of ability has been reached.
This is where product development could be highly influential in making involvement more attractive and entertaining to overcome this very obvious hurdle to initial and long term enjoyment.
The player has to be the focus of new games with everything done to ensure a value for money experience high on entertainment and reward, and where individual competition amongst players outweighs the current model shortcoming of having to beat the system in every bet.
When people truly enjoy an activity it is possible to learn almost effortlessly with a real hunger for information borne from a will to improve and be more competitive.
Real enjoyment has the further benefit of speeding up the learning process as it often leads to the development of an insatiable urge to improve knowledge and skill if presented in a conducive environment.
If there is one thing that most humans enjoy even more than competition it is the ability to be truly competitive and to provide a serious and respectable challenge to fellow competitors. It has a lot to do with personal pride and a desire to be respected by others in a competitive environment.
This wish to be competitive provides a very important element to be considered in the design process of much needed new racing products.
New products and formats need not only to provide players with the means to be more competitive, but also create opportunities for much greater non-financial reward, which would include acknowledgement and recognition of performance and bragging rights amongst players.
This theme needs to be expanded on even further by making winning a lot more prestigious, and by creating a reward mechanism that will see successful players gaining admiration from players and non-players alike, where it will ultimately becomes a serious motivation to join the game and to share in this elevated recognition.
Just like ownership of a champion horse generates pride and excitement which few will ever have the privilege of experiencing, becoming celebrated champion players could provide to a much bigger group who are given a chance to take part as participants in new racing formats that should be introduced in future.
This will provide the “Stuff that Dreams are made of” and could create a whole new generation that will grow to love racing and the opportunity that it provides to compete amongst one another for new found fame and fortune.
Racing could provide a superb medium for competition amongst players as it provides unexpected results in between a majority of predictable results, which racing skills make possible to determine from a horses ability and current form projected to an upcoming race, where event conditions also need to be factored into.
All the elements are present in racing to produce the greatest skills based game of all time, but it has to be combined with a proper understanding of human drivers and nature, and how this could be matched up in product design, to produce a format attractive enough to inspire an entire new generation of players.
