Re: Very Important... (583 Views)
Posted by:
Even for Life (IP Logged)
Date: February 24, 2005 02:04PM
Sorry in advance for the poor spelling/grammer. This is a topic I have a lot of passion for and wanted to quickly get my two cents in.
Jerry, I agree--I think that it is called attempting to influence the outcome of a gaming/sporting event.
In a way, I think that tracks, and racing commissons actually have an opportunity to clean house and deal with the fairness of the product they are selling. They are dealing with "corporate governance" issues. It is serious stuff. The cheating in horse racing is no different than the underlying issues of the financial scandals of the 90s (Anyone hear of Enron, MCI, Tyco) where investors (shareholders) were not being accuratly apprasied of the true operating risk of a business.
Sarbanes Oxley was enacted to ensure disclosure of financial practices/risks (Hmmmm...that former operating facility that has contaminated drinking water, and we have class action lawsuits/toxic torts--maybe we should let our investors know). The law has some serious flaws, but it was a start.
Racing needs to be very careful--especially the public companies. An aggressive group of shareholders can questions if the risks related to "cheating" is harming the underlying business (the gaming product). Are racetracks in control of the legitimacy of their product??? An aggressive Attorney General could even look into their practices. They whole underbelly of the sport can be exposed as a risk issue and racing would face an incredible amount of heat very quickly (if you follow business ask Marsh, AIG, Merck,etc.) The risk perception of "cheating" could impact racings public companies in a whole range of areas, from how they raise capital to insuring themselves from liability. Racing can take the opportunity to police itself and get a "one-time pass" by cleaning up its operations--or have someone else do it for them.
Perhaps we should advocate for class action suits. As bettors we are a major source of revenue for these operations. If you own shares in the mega tracks, a platform exists.
Even for Life