Richiebee,

Interesting concept. As I see the future of racing, it will be consolidated into mega race centers facilities, Possibly only racing in NY,CA,KY,FL and perhaps one or two other places for live racing within the US.

However, the big change for racing will come when and or if racing becomes a global sport, with merged parimutual pools with Asia (if the let us in) Europe,Canada, South America etc. In order for it to work,They will globally merge the entire pools and work out all legal and tax issues. This has to happen if racing is to attract the big betters back to racing. Not exactly sure of all the details but Big event days such as Arc Day or Royal Ascot meet, Saratoga, Delmar and Big event days in Japan combined with major US races all in one day in one common pool. They would have to work out the wagering menu's. Perhaps Friday-Sat & Sunday only racing for the globally merged pools racing 24 hours around the clock for 2 maybe 3 days a week or perhaps only 2 or 3 weekends a month. The rest of the time would be local racing only with merged US pools with much fewer tracks offered as one national race card. I would much prefer to have bigger fields and bigger betting pools in order to try to make the big scores similar to Derby day or BC Day. OTB type modern betting parlors and fewer actual racing (tracks) facilities will be the future of racing. With fewer venues, then you can better control and standardize drug testing & applications, race day medications etc. Make it a national board vs state. One or two national betting card vs the variety we have today. Maybe you have to have a few natoinal cards/versions per day (ie Major circuit & minor circuits), a Day or night national card from various tracks...just brainstorming idea's. May not be the best choice for the masses, but it may be what it takes to survive and attract new customers is huge payouts.

As I see it, those tracks without the additional funding of racino's will not survive without GLOBAL simulcasting and merging the pools.

NC Tony



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/05/2006 12:52PM by NoCarolinaTony.