A lifetime punter says that he is amazed – but not necessarily surprised at the same time – at the way the tote pools have diminished to next to nothing.
Writing in the Sporting Post Mailbag, Philip Goldberg says that he is ‘saddened’ by the current state of play.
Over the past few years, the operators of the totalisator have frustrated and treated the punter with little regard, to the extent that nowadays he is near non existent.
A culture of customer apathy has left the well dry – it’s a ghost town.
The trifecta and quartet pools on international racing barely get to R500 these days.
This puzzles me, as all there is to do in these times is punt. What else is everybody doing?
We get between R8000 and R25000 in the various PA pools, and that is only because of the Sporting Post’s consistent daily awareness and indirect marketing – something that has been woefully lacking from the very people entrusted with the function.
It looks to me as if the punter has just literally given up the ghost with racing.
After years of what I have suspected – and being ridiculed for in some quarters at the same time – to what appeared to be dividend and pool manipulation, as well as the grossly poor handling of carryover money, the last few sole survivors have called it a day, I reckon,
Even when local racing starts, I really doubt they will ever return.
It’s very sad.
