CHESTER BOOKMAKING MARKETING FEE?????????????

It seems  to me that you can only access Betfair through the wifi.  I tried to use the Racing Post app and it was blocked.

half the ring empty , not a shortage of bookmakers , surely ?

If business is so poor and expenses so high, why is every joint manned at these meetings?

C'mon you bookie chappies, stop telling porkies just because you don;t have the licence to print money like the pre-BF days of 20-40% and more over-rounds.

There were phone charging points supplied for punters at Chester yesterday so that if their phone was running flat after placing all their bets on the exchanges, they could recharge their phones to continue betting. The only charge the Tatts books got was a high entry fee.

Now what was that about books and racecourses working together..........................

Good to see the racecourse executive have joined the 21st century and allowing Betfair to provide free WiFi for their customers.

We won't mention then the high attendance or book favourable results will we

Or the total recreational cash easy type punter who attends will we

Who have probably never heard of betfair

Or the multitude of empty bookmakers pitches in Tatts as most of the people head through the underpass and out into the parade ring where the facilities are so much better than in Tatts.

High attendance is certainly not fed through to the main body of Tatts bookmakers, if it was I'm sure the ring would be full and not half empty.

"Good to see the racecourse executive have joined the 21st century and allowing Betfair to provide free WiFi for their customers"

Great news if you want to see the end of the traditional betting ring which "initiatives" (ahem) like this will only hasten

And what would you suggest as your next move then

As regards your pitch,ahem

Perhaps you should get ideas off the forum on what to do next

1. Move out of tatts

sell it ?

The punters want Betfair prices without commission from the on-course bookmakers. They also want 1/4 odds 1-2-3-4 on 16 runner handicaps with Betfair win prices even though the place market to the books will be well overbroke.

Many (not all) of racecourses on the other hand want to screw the on-course books for as much as they can with ever increasing entrance fees, having to pay entry fees for staff even when you do not have any(incredible), and new marketing fees that do nothing to promote the ring. They care not one toss about this current unsustainable bookmakers business model.

Something has to give.

For me it is a mixture of both. Bookmakers have to compete with the exchanges and work to much smaller margins, but they need help from the racecourses if a vibrant ring is to be brought back. Racecourses like Chester are ruthless money makers, high entrance fees, high food and drink fees, and they will jump into bed with anyone who offers an extra buck. Which businesses live and die is not their concern but I believe their current business model will eventually crash and burn as will the levy contribution as more and more betting money is siphoned offshore and more and more smaller books give up this uneven struggle.

LIKE OTHER RACECOURSES,CHESTER DO NOT WANT PEOPLE WHO ARE ACTUALLY INTERESTED IN THE HORSE RACING AS SEEN BY THE HUGE TENTED VILLAGE THAT NOW RESTRICTS THE VIEWING IN THE DEE AND TATTS DOWN TO THE LAST FURLONG,COMBINED WITH EXORBITANT ENTRANCE FEES,PARKING,AND RACECARD PRICES,THE UTTER CONTEMPT THEY HAVE FOR THE RACEGOER CANT BE BETTER EXEMPLIFIED BY CHESTERBET,THEY COULDNT HAVE DONE A BETTER JOB IF THEY TRIED OF DRIVING THE RACEGOER AWAY!

ALTHOUGH THE 2% A RUNNER BOYS NEAR THE PADDOCK ARE ALLRIGHT JACKPLUS THEY NEED A MINIMUM OF TWO STAFF

better today ?

if it was it wouldn't be