Why are Irish Bookies overrounds much greater than UK?

Precisely because they get away with it , BDJ .  Smaller pool , less competition .

At the end of the day , if the bookies dont get turnover , they will die . I foresee a fairly short time line before things change and unprofitable shops start to close .  Those owning their shops will be up against it , 25% at least of downtown shops ( all kinds , not just bookies ) are unoccupied in Belfast  , so no-one is going to be renting or buying if that 25 % ( plus ) increases . General malaise .

a pitch in down royal earlier this year was sold for 18 grand.....a couple years ago it was worth 60 grand

because half the field are already dead and could be 1000

18k wow NGU that's nothing. Are most regional pitches approximately costing that? I would have thought it'd be good fun to have pitches for some of the smaller tracks when the summer racing is on although not sure it would be profitable.

Why would you need to buy,numbers are dwindling you would be greeted with open arms.
The SP in Ireland is based on the lowest price available whereas the SP in Britain is based on the highest odds available within reason.

The SP in Ireland is based on the lowest price available whereas the SP in Britain is based on the highest odds available within reason.
Pure drivel...

Everybody is missing the point the introduction of online betting and the exchanges is the main reason for the downturn in Britain and Ireland alright, but these pathetic Irish ovverrounds have been going on since time began, their excuse back then was to protect themselves from potential insider on-course gambles.

For a good few years now every bookmaker has been pricing up every race from sellers, maidens, claimers, bumpers etc in the morning, not just a select few big field handicaps, so the bookmakers books are well and truely marked for them well before they arrive on course, there is no excuse today for these scandalous overrounds, no excuse back then either, no fear of any in the media highlighting the issue, I'm sure they all have very healthy VIP accounts with various bookmakers? no point rocking the boat.

Its a downward spiral , diminishing markets , fewer bookies , continuous overrounds --partly to ensure profitability ( or survival ) .  Supply and demand , exchanges are the real enemy for the on course lads --variety and availability .

Economy , (non expansionist) , money tight , hard work now on course .  Dont see many rays of light or green shoots .  Pity .  Racing is a vital industry to a lot of people and the country . Up to those at the top to make sure the baby does not go out with the bathwater .

see the betting today at thurles?.........who would go betting there when you can get a point higher on every horse on the exchanges..........not the same in UK.........the irish on course layers deserve and will go out of extinction very soon save for the big meets.

BDJ , the last time I was on course I spent a fair bit of time observing what was going on in the ring . One pitch in particular had one of their number specifically glued to a computer , never moved , it was obviously a big part of their operation .

So if you can back Ninas in the last at 8/1 on here and lay it at 5/1 on course , no need for Einstein capabilities to sniff out  guaranteed profit . We would all be daft if we did not do that ourselves given the opportunity , but ultimately there is no one standing there with their hard earned looking to have a bet at 5/1 when they can get 8/1 . Thats where its at , and the reason for my views which have not changed for upwards of 5 years or so now . Logic and the way of the world .

I agree with you in the main bdj's and realise you are talking about on course books,you aren't quite right about Thurles yesterday as Sizing Kimberbly was odds on/evens for much of the day on the exchanges, a bit of a sickener if he actually won and you saw 7/4 sp returned.
Bog in the shops can be a better alternative on shorter price runners than exchanges a lot of times imho as rightly or wrongly i believe some runners prices on the exchanges are artificially compressed until quite near the off.

I think in the not to distant future there will not be any any on course bookies in Ireland. Technology will do away with them. Free wifi on course with punters betting on line is what I think will happen. Its already happening.Punters bet on line with i phones. Bookies on course are not competitive with the Exchanges . Most on line firms pay double result.I go racing quite a lot and the one thing that seems to have changed on course is the total lack of competition among the on course bookies . They almost all go the same price about every horse in every race. There was a time that if you shopped around on course you could get better prices. Not anymore and this trend seemed to develope with the introduction of the electronic boards.

you think its bad her santry , you should try get a price at an english track ..unreal they all change automatically thats without taking any kind of bet as far as i can see...

We were in Cheltenham last year some of the bookmakers were offering 1/6 odds eachway betting on some races, they tended to bet their own eachway terms, at least irish bookmakers havent stooped this low yet...

To give the Irish bookies some credit there is no win only which is prevalent on the UK courses, and you get the correct ew odds for each race, none of this 1/6th and 1/7th rip off that is also prevalent in the UK, thats not TO discredit all UK on course bookies there are plenty of good ones too, but it pays to shop around on course in the UK, best read their terms before you place a bet EW. I got caught myself once, once bitten twice shy.

we were on the same wavelength acer it seems.

Will a course do a deal with an exchange to allow bets at exchange SP organised via the track  ?  Would eliminate the Tote essentially , but all round the punters would get as good a deal as they get now , and the courses could charge a small commision on each bet . Only losers would be the bookies .

Any legislation to invalidate this ?

Merely quoting 1/6th terms is misleading.

Book A could be quoting 1/6 odds EW about a 37.0 shot

In contrast his neighbour, Book B might be 31.0 with 1/5th odds EW about the same runner.

Who would you punt with if you were purely price conscious?