The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Horse : Technology can benefit racing

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Sport

Sport - Racing : Horse

Technology can benefit racing

Anil Mukhi

SEOUL: From the Indian perspective, the chief lesson to be learnt from the first business session of the 30th Asian Racing Conference is that technology can be productively harnessed to increase wagering on horse racing. The commission earned by turf clubs from this is the life-blood of racing, and hence higher revenues could mean the difference between clubs sinking or swimming.

Stifling taxation apart, one of the reasons why the Indian Turf's finances are in a sorry state is that potential wagering revenue remains untapped and is being allowed to go waste by infrastructural delays. Patrons do not like standing in long queues to place their bets - it's far easier and more user-friendly to pick up the telephone and call an obliging bookmaker.

A couple of speakers at the conference pointed out how the Australian TABCORP was taking advantage of the rapid multiplication of hand-held technological devices - such as PDAs and mobile phones - to enable patrons to get their money on.

An additional method was for mobile betting terminals to be carried to punters by roving Tote representatives, who accept cash and print out a ticket on the spot, with the bet being relayed by wireless to the central computer.

The General Manager of the KRA revealed that after a six year-long development period, new KTOTE terminals had been introduced, which are extremely efficient. There are two versions — operator-assisted and self-operated. A patron can fill in a betting slip, insert it in the machine and obtain a ticket printed out in just 300 milliseconds!

Obviously, such measures enable more bets to be accepted and thus raise the turnover. The availability of terminals also enables the establishment of hundreds of off-course franchised betting sites, with modest additional investment on the part of the franchisees.

Interestingly, the Hong Kong Jockey Club has been permitted by its Government to accept football betting and this has proved very successful in channelling illegal wagering into a healthy turnover for both the club and the Government. Between horse racing, lotto and football, the HKJC paid its government HK$ 12.8 billion in betting tax last fiscal - Rs. 7,159 crores! Clearly, there is a lesson here for India - can one imagine the potential gains for the country if hypothetically, the Bangalore Turf Club Ltd., with its software expertise and betting terminals infrastructure, could be licensed to accept betting on cricket?

Mallya elected

In other news of interest, it is learnt that Rajya Sabha M.P., Mr. Vijay Mallya, was unanimously elected as Chairman of the International Racehorse Owners Federation at a meeting held here last Sunday. Mr. Mallya has announced that his mission for IROF, headquartered in New South Wales, Australia, will be to "establish credibility, infuse life and recruit new membership".

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