I see few main reasons that are chiefly responsible to make racing
unattractive to the general masses in India:
1. The sport's image with the general public
- Negative feedback from losers who have been there
- Negative feedback from the media
- Dearth of stories of winners--especially the "big winners"
- Administrators of the sport sit in ivory towers and never make any
attempt to defend the sport when its name is being maligned
Explanation:
Horseracing is predominantly linked with money--big money! The
attraction of big money is natural for the middle classes of the
society. It is basically this class from which the sport must draw its
patrons if it has to survive and grow. Strangely, what we find in India
that it is precisely this class that shuns this sport and considers it
taboo.
The reasons are not difficult to understand. Generations have grown up
believing that the racecourse is a place for rogues, scoundrels and the
Mafia. Any sport that involves millions of rupees will always have its
share of undesirable elements, but as you and I know, racing is not as
dirty as it is made out to be.
Who has given this bad publicity to racing?
The people who came here thinking they could make easy money by betting
on horses, but discovered otherwise. If they couldn't save their money,
they could at least save their ego by claiming they were robbed by
unscrupulous elements--a jockey who pulled the horse, or the Mafia that
fixed the race.
Even the media, in its need for sensationalism, have gone overboard on
more than one occasion in the past. One story like the Knight N' Day
episode, or the attempt to 'get at' the Oaks favourite Littleover,
sensationalised on the front pages, sets off the sport by years.
Strangely, the administrators who run the sport make no attempt to check
the damage when bad stories break out.
Some years ago, a shady underworld character was murdered in the streets
of Mumbai. There are many such cases happening around us daily, and
generally they are buried under 'Crime Watch' in a para or two. But this
case got onto all the front pages.
The reason? The man was a horse owner! The club authorities never
bothered to inform the media that his murder had nothing to do with his
being a horse owner, and that he owned only one horse out of the 1,400
stationed at Mahalaxmi that year.
Contrast this with only one positive story of lyricist Rajendra Krishna
winning the bumper jackpot of Rs 48 lakh in 1971. This one positive
story was enough to generate record surge in attendance over the next 15
years!
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2. Government's greed for
revenue
Explanation:
Governments can be very vicious organisations, especially if they fail
to understand the potential of a particular industry to generate revenue
for their coffers.
The bad state of horse racing in India is a striking example of how an
unimaginative government or bureaucracy can actually kill a golden
goose.
A small city state like Hong Kong, with less than 100 racing days in a
year, generates revenue of millions of dollars besides donating
equivalent of over Rs. 500 crore to various charities.
No wonder the communist China kept their hands off racing in HK after
taking over.
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3. Bookies hasten the death
of racing
Explanation:
Bookmakers, for Indian racing, have turned out to be the villains.
Almost all the clubs in India (the exception is BTC), not realising that
Tote is their saviour, have favoured bookies by refusing to take steps
to curb the menace of coded betting wherein the bookie and the punter
get together to cheat the government and the club on the betting tax.
RWITC is the worst example. Some years back, against a "guaranteed"
revenue, the state government "allowed" the club to landscape its own
taxation structure. The club should have grabbed this opportunity to
create a deliberate disparity between the tote and bookmakers taxes
(something like 3-5% for tote and 20% for bookies). Instead, under
pressure of the bookmakers' lobby, the club reduced the taxes for both
Tote and Bookies almost proportionately!
While coded betting is a known menace, there is another big danger from
the bookmakers that has virtually gone unnoticed.
The consequences of a fluke horse winning a race are vastly different
with regard to the Tote and the bookmakers. In the Tote system, when a
lesser-fancied horse wins, the money (after deduction of taxes) still
returns to the punting community who then most likely put it back into
the next race. Hence the same money can come into the game, and every
time it does so, the government and the club keep on earning revenue or
commission. However, a fluke horse's victory rarely results in any
substantial payoff liability for the bookies who simply take that money
home. Considering the fact that 70% races are won by non-favourites
(nearly 10-12% by rank outsiders), a massive chunk of the collective
betting capital that punters bring into the game finds its way to the
bookies' homes as their profit and never returns to the game.
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4. Lifestyle, Fashion,
glamour angle CANNOT, and WILL NEVER, bring back the crowds.
Explanation:
Many years ago I had opened a pre-derby article by writing that on a
Derby day at Mahalaxmi, people will jostle past Jackie Shroff without
noticing him just to have a glimpse of Jockey Shroff. That is still the
case.
The racing crowd, even occasional railbirds like the once-in-a-year
Derby visitors, know what they are there for-but ironically, the RWITC
bosses don't understand this simple truth. There were times we had half
the Bollywood at the Derby "on the lawns and in the stands-but NEVER in
the paddock! The stars felt obliged to make their own arrangements to
attend the Derby as normal folks, in a way, putting this one day and
this one event on a sort of a pedestal. When the stars "look up" to an
event like this and the people see that for themselves, it adds a
different dimension to the popularity of our biggest day and its market
appeal than to beg them to be present and parade them in the paddock as
chief guests. It may do some good to some people's ego, but it hardly
sells your sport to the masses.
And frankly, racing MUST REALISE it can be no match to the glamour, film
and fashion industry. Competing with these industries on their turf is
not only foolish, it's plain suicidal. We must stick to our "turf" (pun
deliberate).
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5. Lack of will/courage on
the part of clubs to take on government.
Explanation:
When it comes to taking on government on any issue, the race clubs in
this country develop cold feet. "We can't ruffle them, we have to depend
on them for license," is the general excuse.
I am of the firm opinion that there is a very good chance of getting two
huge obstacles that have plagued racing for a long time, out of the way
by knocking on the doors of the Supreme Court, namely
i) 30% deduction on all winnings exceeding Rs.2,500, as Tax Deducted at
Source (TDS)
ii) The right to allow a punter to offset his losses against his
winnings
Surprised? Do you know why we have to pay TDS? Just because, by some
archaic rule, horse racing has been classified under "the lotteries and
gaming act".
Now, remember the landmark judgment delivered by Justice Kuldeep Singh
(in the Madras Race Club v/s. Government of Tamil Nadu) a decade ago in
which the two-judge bench of the apex court unequivocally ruled that
horse racing "is a game of skill, and NOT GAMBLING"?
All the clubs (or the Turf Authority) need to do is file a petition in
the apex court, seek this ruling, and ask for "dissociation" of horse
racing from the "Lotteries and gaming act". In fact, one can go to the
extent saying that continuing to classify horse racing under this act,
after such a landmark, unambiguous verdict, can be argued as "contempt
of court"!
Whenever I have raised this topic with various RWTIC committees over the
last 10 years (besides writing some articles on this topic, one of them
citing reputed legal opinion), they have simply shrugged their shoulders
or given the above mentioned excuse.
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6. To attract new customers,
racing MUST OFFER A VERY SIMPLE PRODUCT.
Explanation:
Put yourself into the shoes of a first time visitor to racecourse. What
kind of product are we offering him? There is a dire need to
revolutionalize the racing product and to make it so simple that a 10
year old child should be able to understand and partake.
Imagine the plight of a first time visitor to our racecourse. Right from
dual entry fee (Rs.20 for live racing and Rs.30 for off course, which
looks irrational to him though we have our logic for that disparity too)
to a clutter of two or sometimes three racing centers going on together
without ANY DIRECTIONS as to where to go for what center, and different
dividend announcements to confuse further. If he listens to the
announcement like "as there are no successful tickets in the forecast
pool of the third race, the amount of Rs.180 is carried forward to a
date which will be announced later", do you think he is going to shell
out any big money for that pool? Remember he is a first timer and he
doesn't know the announcement is for Hyderabad or Kolkata, and that
local pools are quite sizeable.
Again, imagine what will be his condition when, on a nine or ten race
card, he has to grapple with two super jackpot pools, two jackpot pools,
3 or 4 treble pools etc. By contrast, the next time he comes, you offer
him six or seven races with only one super, one jackpot and only one
treble pool. Can't we just give him some consistency until he picks up
the finer threads of the game?
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Make the product very simple
by taking the following steps:
1. Race card should have either 7 or 8 races ONLY. Never more,
never less. The time of the first race ON ALL DAYS must be the SAME.
That way, occasional punters (and I believe their % has dropped from 15
to 2% in the last decade) can know when they must reach the racecourse
if they want to attend the program. Interestingly, this practice is
common all over the world. The time of the first race, what they call
the "first post", is fixed for the entire season despite vagaries of
climate, and here we toggle in a span of three hours from as early as 1
pm to as late as 4 pm depending upon the card size and the sunset time.
2. Betting should be conducted only on one card, and not multiple cards
in one day.
3. Only one Super jackpot, one jackpot and one treble pool-no place pot
pools etc.
4. Tote must take steps to encourage betting on WIN, PLACE and SHP, and
video displays must constantly flash these pool collections. (The
Bangalore Turf Club is already doing it with great success.)
5. Any carried over pool (other than Super, jackpot and treble) must
immediately be added to the race following the next race. For example,
2nd race carryovers must immediately be added to the 4th race, 5th race
carryovers to the 7th etc. Carryovers from the last two races would be
added to the first and second races of the next racing day of the same
centre. (The BTC, again, must be congratulated here)
6. Jackpot, Super jackpot and Treble pool carryovers must be immediately
added to the respective pools of the following Sunday as a policy so
that the punter knows when to come again if he wants to take a crack.
7. The Tote windows Must be grouped as 6 in one group-two catering to
the WIN/PLACE/SHP only, two catering to all pools (WIN /PLACE /SHP
/FORECAST /TANALA/jackpot/super), one for senior citizens/ladies, and
one for investments of over Rs.500 on one ticket.
8. TV monitors MUST be used to "educate" the punters about how to "ask
for a ticket" to save time, viz "WIN, No.4, Rs.100, 5 tickets please" or
PLACE, No.2 50, No.7 100 & No. 8, 20 please"
9. The average age of the tote staff MUST BE around 25 years.
10. The average age of the supervisors MUST BE around 35 years.
I am quite positive that if racing administrators, government and the
media do their bit in removing these obstacles, racing will not only be
able to sustain itself, but can also emerge as a major spectator sport
with mass following, besides being a huge revenue earner for the
government coffers.
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READERS'
RESPONSES
Never
has been so obvious been spelled out so clearly! If the Chairman or the
Managing (?) Commitee of RWITC is really serious about solving the
problems facing the Club, they should act on this article without any
delay or else play the fiddle while Rome is slowly but surely reduced to
cinders. One point I would like to know is ..isnt the Bookmaker worried
that this sport will be ending soon because of his greed ?
JAMNADAS
Now,
this is what is called a real in-depth analysis of the horse racing
industry. Not like one jolly-good fellow saying that attendance has
increased and supplies data of only 200 or so more when in fact it is
down by couple of thousands and another fellow after being a committee
member himself for years tells us now how to rejuvenate racing. Kudos to
Mr. Prakash Gosavi!
JOSEPH CYRUS
Very
very well written. Every point should be compiled and followed like a
"racing bible".
CLINTON GANSLANDT
It is an
excellent article because it is courageous. It is good because it brings
home some important facts about the Tax structure. It is poor as this
writer is talking from the punters point of view. As for the statement "
bookies hasten the death of racing " this simply has no weightage. They
are simply working on the basis of demand and supply and fluctuate their
odds accordingly. The totalisator operates exactly on the same
principle. The only saving grace for this writer is the Taxation. First
the entertainment tax while you are entering the racecourse, secondly
the betting tax and thirdly the club’s commission. Debate can be
considered healthy only if it is argued from both the angle i.e. favour
and against.
EQBAL
CHAGANI
Brilliant article.
TARIQ VAIDYA
This
article is simply superb
T. VIJAYKUMAR
Prakash
Gosavi has put forward some very good points in his article. However, it
is unlikely that the powers that be - especially in the RWITC are likely
to act on these suggestions. It is very sad to see the way politics and
individual egos are slowly killing the sport in western India. I have
been a keen follower of the sport for almost 20 years and I can
definitely say that my interest level has deteriorated even though I
still love the sport.
YUSUF ALLANA
Amazing
article... its so true... if you are seen near a race course you are a
bad boy... that is how people see it. I was just speaking to my friends
about horse racing today and by the time we finished I was already
titled "the gambler". I have never been to a racecourse ever in my life
but have done some internet betting and true there is so much money in
it. I never knew races go on so often in Bangalore. The newspapers never
have a column on this sport.
ADI
Excellent article Prakash. Keep them coming. I would also suggest that
you write more articles on the positive angles of the sport of racing in
the print media that is more widely read by the general public.
ZEYN MIRZA
I would like to completely
differ with the views expressed in the article. I very strongly feel the
views expressed are on a tangent and to a large extent far away from the
reality. Lets be honest to ourselves, as we all know that there is only
one reason for which the Indian Horse Racing is going to meet a sad end
very soon and I am saying this with some experience over the last 35
years. I am watching this trend and tussle with all sorts of ad hoc vain
attempts to attract public to race courses. I can assure you that these
efforts are useless, as these are just not addressing the real problem.
The only problem with our horse racing is rampant corruption and
malpractices at all levels and if the authorities concerned don’t know
this they don’t know their job and should just quit and let some honest
and upright people step in and look after the affairs and the interest
of racing, racing public and racing industry will automatically get
looked after.
PARVEZ DAVID SHAH
I
congratulate Prakashji for going through the mammoth effort of enlisting
the changes required for improving the attendance and attitude in horse
racing, but I have my serious doubts whether his suggestions would be
considered or it would be another futile exercise called "academic
masturbation". As they say "It is very easy to wake a sleeping man than
the one who is feigning to be asleep".
Dr. DEV SHETTY
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