The convenience of corner store betting
A new bet on racing that could revolutionize how people play the ponies.
Outside of the racing world there aren't many places where a member of the general public can simply and easily place bets on racehorses. Besides OTB’s, tracks themselves and online betting services such as HPI, horse racing desperately lacks public accessibility. The industry greatly needs a medium outside of racing’s inner circles where the average Joe can plunk down $2 and walk away; all while paying for his gas and grabbing a quick snack.
Attempts over the years to put horse racing into convenience stores have failed. Most floundered because we wanted to put the racetrack into the corner store, instead of putting the corner store experience into horse racing. We shouldn't put a betting and live stream terminal into a convenience store and expect people to play. For one, their stop is quick and targeted—good luck getting them to read over a program and select a horse. The average person, however, will place a ‘bet’ on the Super 7 lotto or Lotto Max; either through a ‘quick-pick’ randomly generated offering or by using their own numbers which they regularly play.
Racing, in its current form, is too complex for those looking to get in and out of stores as quickly as possible. Our new motto for successfully getting into convenience stores should be “If we can’t beat them, join them” and we should gear ourselves towards matching the competition.
In this “Let’s Get Back on Track” piece I’ll be offering two suggestions that would easily allow racing to enter convenience stores in an effective manner. One idea is completely original and may be the simplest way for us to make a big splash. The other is a new take on the hugely popular V75 lotto from Sweden.
My first idea is to create a national V75-type lottery. Similar to what Sweden has successfully done with only 9.5 million people, Canada has the potential to create a phenomenon four times greater. In order to win, one would have to hold the winning ticket that successfully identified the winners from six tracks throughout the week. All tickets would be randomly drawn.
The winner must have a ticket with the winning horses from the sixth race at (for example) Mohawk on Monday, Fraser Downs on Tuesday, Fredericton on Wednesday, Georgian Downs on Thursday, Dresden on Friday and Charlottetown on Saturday.
If nobody holds a ticket with those six winners, 100% of the pot would be carried over to the following week. Although interest in the lottery may take some time to get rolling, once the jackpots are higher enough the interest from the general public will follow.
Racetrack secretaries involved with the lottery should be mandated to present the most wide-open and competitive race for the featured events. This will ensure that nobody will be lucky enough to get handed 1-9 favourites. It will also help make the lottery as aggressive as possible.
My final idea is an original take on the very popular Pro-Line sports betting service offered by government lottery corporations across Canada. Pro-Line allows people to bet on the outcomes of their favourite sports teams and users must select at least two combinations (single sports betting is illegal in Canada, but may become legalized soon). All odds are predetermined by the corresponding lottery corporations and are presented when purchasing your Pro-Line ticket. As with horse racing, betting more (up to $25 per Pro-Line transaction) will help increase your payout if your ticket is a winner.
Pro-Line also offers another type of bet where you can wager on which athlete will receive the most points. In the photo above which I took before Game 5 of the most recent Stanley Cup finals, Pro-Line offers a player match-up between centers Jonathan Toews (Chicago Blackhawks) and Patrice Bergeron (Boston Bruins). If Toews receives more points at the end of the night and you have pegged him to do so, you’ll receive 1.90x your initial bet. Because both players are almost evenly matched, ALC decided that both players would payout at 1.90x the initial bet if you chose them. If both players end the night with identical scores and you thought ahead of time that they would, you’ll receive 2.70x the amount you initially wagered.
Horse racing could be easily enter a similar scenario. Imagine betting on which horse would beat the other, instead of buying a win ticket on the horse you thought would win. You could head to the corner store and put down $2 on Captaintreacherous beating Vegas Vacation. Tetrick could finish ninth but as long as his charge was ahead of Coleman’s three year old, you'd cash. A move like this would help open a whole new realm of possibilities for horse racing and expose the sport to gamblers already betting other sports.
Adding horse racing to Pro-Line is a simple task. It’s a few additional lines on a sports sheet and some collaboration between the lottery corporations and racetrack secretaries.
Horse racing in corner stores is a great idea to broaden our mass appeal—and a bet we should be roaring to make.
Stay tuned to the next edition of “Let’s Get Back on Track” as I move towards finding horse racings target customer and how the industry should reposition its focus.
