The fight for national recognition
by John Berry
We would like to think that our grand sport is recognized nationally and internationally as a major sport.
After all, while most major sports are basking in “plus” signs in every category from attendance and revenue to relevance in the sporting world, we seem to be wallowing in “minus” signs in many areas, including wagering statistics, purses and racing days, and a declining number of horses competing, too, which has a negative effect on value for one of the most important pieces in our success — the bettor.
No, the figures aren’t earth shattering — a couple of percentage points here, a couple of percentage points there.
But year after year, those losses add up to, when a decade or two paces by, significant, eye-opening figures — until it’s too late to do anything about it.
How long has this been going on?
Five years? 10 years? Even 20 years?
The answer is 50 years — a half century — and hardly anything has been done to stop the bleeding.
No, it’s just a teeny minus every year but, since our heyday (and our horses’ hay-day), the loss of racing dates is staggering as attendance at our pari-mutuel tracks a half century ago was over 28 million.
Today, we’re lucky if it’s 28.
I am asked all the time, “Why do I care so much?”
I care because I love this sport, and have for 67 years.
We have become “older,” like our horses, and are, literally, seeing a dying breed and, when we have taken our last breath, who is going to care?
Who is going to take the bull by the horns and do something about this tragedy? As if anyone sees this as one.
We like to think of our sport as a major sport.
But here’s the difference. We may be a major sport for a few days and nights in a year — Hambletonian Day, Breeders Crown events, the North America Cup, the Little Brown Jug, and, yes, the Gold Cup and Saucer.
Overseas, the Prix d’Amérique and Elitloppet qualify.
Yes, there are regional events worth noting, but they hardly get a whisper outside of their home base.
Major sports (MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL) generally have 30 or 32 teams scattered throughout our land and all get national coverage in what’s left of newspapers, on television, on the World Wide Web, etc.
When we look at the standings in every sport, every team throughout North America is listed, not just the home team.
Even Major League Soccer has 30 teams and the WNBA is growing, as are several minor sports trying to become major ones.
College sports, like March Madness (stretching into April) and the Olympic Games and, several others, all get the headlines.
These major sports are covered in cities and towns all over the country with a population in the several millions to just a few hundred.
So, where do we go for our information?
Certainly not much in newspapers anymore, including the ones that covered harness racing years ago.
We’re minutely on television.
The internet does a great job in covering our sport — if one is interested.
Yes, we have the USTA website, and Standardbred Canada, and, of course, Harness Racing Update and DRF Harness and Harnesslink and HarnessWeb for those Down Under.
But we don’t seem to reach far beyond our own little sphere, and that is a problem.
Building takes time, rebuilding takes time, and, while it won’t be in my lifetime, if we start today, we can rebuild our sport into a truly, major one.
The first known gambling house, the Ridotto, also known as Palazzo Vendramin Catergi, was built in Venice, Italy in 1638 and, in the United States, the oldest significant one was the Crescent City House in New Orleans.
There were “crude” forms imaging a casino like the “honor box” in 1770.
Horse racing was forbidden back in that era as Rhode Island, home to the first American horse breed, the Narragansett Pacer, passed a law prohibiting horse racing, said to ensure that all horsepower was devoted to the revolutionary war effort.
Yes, there were lotteries back around 1800, as well, with the most famous lottery winner being Denmark Vesey, who won $1,500, and used the money to buy his was out of slavery into freedom.
The aforementioned Crescent City House was established in New Orleans in 1827 — a full-service casino open 24-hours-a-day and they introduced the first buffet supper, an idea eventually adopted by Las Vegas casino upon their arrival on the gaming scene.
Eight years later, the Louisiana legislature passed a law making the operation of gaming places a felony, leaving owner John Davis no choice but to close up shop and return to the theatre business.
The first casino in Washington, D.C. was opened in 1832 and was frequented by politicians.
Riverboat gambling became popular in the late 1850s and — speaking of prop bets — betting booths appeared at baseball parks.
Around 1855, Native Americans were playing a form of roulette in Las Vegas — in the sand using bones and colorful sticks but, a few years later, Nevada outlawed gambling, classifying it as a felony with jail time of up to two years and fines of $5,000.
In 1869, Nevada made gambling legal again.
Coin operated machines with winning symbols paid by a croupier, redeemable for merchandise, came into the gaming world in 1885.
Florida had its first casino built in 1894 as the Beach Club Casino opened and became the longest running illicit gambling operation in the country when it was closed 48 years later.
Then, in 1905, the pinnacle moment at the time, the first slot machine that had three reels was invented by Charles Fey, and it automatically paid the winners.
Shortly thereafter, new symbols were added but, in 1909, Nevada banned gambling — the law becoming effective in October of 1910, but, three years later, Nevada legalized open gambling — not commercial gambling, but, about 20 years later — 1931 — commercial gaming was legalized in that state with Harold’s Club opening in Reno in the mid-1930s.
A couple of casinos sprouted up in Southern Nevada with the El Rancho and Last Frontier opening up with the passing of the gaming revenue tax in 1945.
In 1946, “Bugsy” Siegel opened the Flamingo and the Strip’s first major lounge act opened.
Siegel was found to have “connections” and was shot shortly after the Flamingo opened.
Congressional Acts were eventually passed and the Nevada Gaming Control Board was formed as the industry grew.
Howard Hughes then acquired many casinos and hotels and junkets were organized.
In 1964, New Hampshire was the first state to re-introduce the state lottery.
The Corporate Gaming Act was passed in 1967 allowing public corporations to own casinos.
In the early 1970s, New York State legalized off-track betting.
New Jersey then came into the picture in 1976.
In 1979, electronic slot machines changed the face of the entire industry. More state lotteries sprouted up and, keeping up with the ties, the three classes of gaming were defined and regulated — Class I, Class II and Class III, which included pari-mutuel events, lotteries, banking card games and slot machines.
Eventually came Foxwoods and, now, the total number of casinos in the U.S. are said to be well over 2,000.
This is shown to emphasize that our sport has missed the greatest explosion of gaming in history.
Why is all this pointed out now? The answer is that all of this has been going on for, literally, more than a couple of centuries, and has laid the foundation for us to take advantage of this foundation to re-build our sport.
Harness racing can band together and form a coalition and open simulcasting venues — thousands of them, just like lottery outlets — in every state with all the hoopla of video technology and dining venues showcasing our sport.
We can introduce our sport offering pari-mutuel betting or fixed odds or prop bets in states like Nevada (that has 232 casinos) all the way to and through Alaska and Rhode Island (with two casinos each), with sprouts in Oklahoma (143 casinos), California (86) casinos, Minnesota (38), Colorado (35), and everywhere with simulcasting venues in thousands of locales.
Maybe offer franchises in cities and towns no matter the size.
Telluride, CO, Asheville, NC, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA, Santa Fe, NM, Littleton, NH, Marfa, TX, Hermann, MO, are examples of small, vibrant towns that would add a bit of excitement to their already vibrant existence.
On top of that, with the combined betting and revenue from these nationwide venues, harness racing, too, could create events like my “Mega 8” — picking seven winners with a trifecta in the finale — which could offer bettors prizes possibly equal or larger than our biggest lottery prizes.
Do you think that a $10 million carryover could vault our sport into the category of a major sport? How about $250 million? How about a billion?
Think it can’t be done?
Think again. It’s happening all around us as we sit around twiddling our thumbs while other sports are creating and implementing ideas for the future, leaving harness racing on their charts “DIS.”
The foundation has already been built — a foundation 200-plus years strong.
We just have to find those with the brain power and will power to start building on that foundation and start striding forward.
May The Horse Be With You!
