Betting shop blues

Guest blog writer: Graham Daniels, Coventry University, UK

The other day I popped into my local Ladbrokes, not because I thought I could back a winner, you understand, but because I thought I’d see if there were any bargains on offer, in much the same way I’d pop into Marks and Spencer’s or British Home Stores. Unusually for a Tuesday dinner time, there were no bargains but I did spot a ‘customer’ having a snooze. I took this to be a natural reaction to the low quality racing being transmitted but that turned out to be a mistake on my part. The fearsome shop manageress had already spotted this soporific regular and had decided she was having no more of that type of behaviour in her establishment. ‘Nobody sleeps in my shop!’ she belted out full blast, in a deliberate attempt to disturb the snoozing punter, whilst at the same time signalling to the rest of us she wouldn’t be the first lady you’d want to go to with a query about your payout.

He took a while to come round, this punter, as one does when one has been unexpectedly awoken from one’s slumbers, but, once fully awake, a torrent of abuse issued forth from his lips; the abuse probably caused plenty of embarrassment to customers in the Ann Summers shop next door. As he made his winding way towards the exit, he picked up a stool, held it high above his head and told the aforementioned manageress what he was going to do with that stool if she wasn’t careful. He then left quietly enough, probably to continue his snooze in the public library.
A typical tale from a bookmaker’s shop, you may think, but these days bookmakers’ shops are markedly different from a few years ago. They’re different because Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) – those machines on which punters play games such as roulette and the like - take pride of place in many establishments and the reason for that is simple enough – those machines generate lots of cash. A reader’s comment on my blog last November summed up the situation perfectly, ‘…bookies have become virtual arcades, with some horses and greyhounds running in the background.’

Here are some selective points from the Mintel report on Betting Shops – UK –August 2009 by way of illustration…

In some shops FOBTs generate half of all profit;

Horse racing’s share of betting shop turnover has halved in a little over a decade;

Ladbrokes reported its machine win in 2008 averaging £676 per cabinet per week, up 16% on 2007's £583 figure;In the mid-1990s, racing typically accounted for 80% of an average shop’s turnover. Today, trade sources put that figure as down in the 40s;In 2008, FOBTs became the first product to earn more for Ladbrokes than horse racing in the company’s entire 122-year existence.

If the live product is undeniably under attack from FOBTs on the one front, it’s coming under attack from virtual horse racing (‘cartoon racing’ is the term used by the blog reader to refer to such offerings) on a second front. Not that long ago I heard a punter in a shop telling anyone who’d listen they were better off punting on the virtual stuff “because it couldn’t be fixed.”
All of which should provide ample food for thought for those in charge of racing and appears to spell trouble for the transmission of the live product in the future.

Coded messages

Guest blog writer - Dave Arthur, Southern Cross University, Australia

It seems that the rivalry between Australia and England when it comes to sport pales into insignificance when Australia’s three icon ‘football’ codes engage in a turf war. Australia’s bid (http://www.australia2018-2022.com.au/) to host in 2022 (2018 seems like a lost cause) has been handsomely supported by the Federal government to the tune of AUD46 million. Part of the FIFA edict to host the event is twelve, 40 000 plus seater stadia and a basic shut down of competing major events prior to and for the duration of the greatest show on Earth. This has led to both the Australian Football League (AFL) and National Rugby League (NRL) being asked to suspend their respective competitions for reportedly up to ten weeks. In addition, some venues would be off limits including the Melbourne Cricket Ground and possibly Etihad Stadium both of which are pivotal to the effective running of the AFL competition. There are many aspects to be played out, including of course whether Australia will indeed get to host the event but some interesting questions could be posed… Should government support for one code over another be so blatant? Are there inherent dangers for a Government sport policy such as this?Can the needs of all three codes be catered for? If seasons are suspended should those affected (which could include rights holders, leagues, clubs, sponsors etc) be compensated? If so, by whom?

The World Cup - A View From Down Under

Guest blog writer: Con Stavros, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

In France a little while back, doing some teaching, I attempted to stir up a little passion surrounding a Rugby international match between my team, Australia, and the French. The students weren’t taking the bait however, telling me their real enemy was England. I suspect had I been in New Zealand or South Africa, the answer would have been the same.

You don’t grow up in Australia, as I have, without a fierce desire to beat England in any sport. Whether it is a colonial, convict of conflict driven desire, that sentiment is strong in many other parts of the world too. Not such a bad thing for sport marketers, particularly given that the notion of true rivalries, rather than media driven hype, are getting harder and harder to sustain.

This fierce competitiveness was borne out in recent days as Australian eyes turned to the FIFA World Cup draw. The lead-up angle was inevitably on whether the “Socceroos” would draw the same group as England. When we didn’t, getting a fearsome trio of Germany, Serbia and Ghana instead, some of the media made an important note of the fact that should we finish second in the group (behind the Germans) we would face England (who would surely win their group) in the first knockout round. I joked at the time that a few of the optimists leaping to this unlikely scenario (Australia finishing second, not England finishing first) probably couldn’t correctly place Ghana or Serbia on a map. But that was beside the point. In a land where football is taken automatically to mean an oval shaped ball, the connection was all about potentially challenging the mother country. Given the choice between victory over Brazil in the final or England in the round of 16, some would, I suspect, take the latter.

To be fair, or at least find an excuse to mention it, the last time we did play in 2003, the score line was Australia 3 England 1. It was only a friendly at Upton Park, but the appetite was stimulated for a meaningful contest that the World Cup could perhaps one day bring. Which makes me wonder why, given the passion and history surrounding the Ashes test series’, that the English and Australian football associations have never translated the contest to their sport? Is it, as I cheekily suspect, that England have too much to lose and nothing to gain by such a venture? Or is that just the patriotic Aussie in me speaking out? Can you make chicken squawking noises on a blog?

I will let you in on a little secret though that no Aussie will admit to. Promise not to tell, but Australian sport fans have a very soft spot for the English football team. Too many of us have spent too many late nights watching those “Match of the Day” highlights from the 1970’s onwards that we have become classically conditioned to believe that the elite of English football is the world’s best and therefore this should translate to the National team. Should Australia make an early exit from South Africa in June, we will rally behind Capello and the boys… even though we might not admit it. Rest assured that no such sympathy extends to the English cricket team however.

Finally a potential match on the pitch aside, there is also a football battle involving the Australians and English going on off the pitch that will have enormous ramifications for the business of sport. As you are probably aware, Australia is bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup. Technically rivals, Australia is pragmatic enough to know that 2018 will almost certainly be a European event, thus leaving the door open for Australia to nab 2022.

I know the English have had a tough time with their bid in recent months, but hopefully all should come together by December 2010 when the winners are announced. I’d, along with many Aussies, love to see the 2018 competition return to England at stadiums and cities, through the magic of television, we feel connected to. Some of those clips being uploaded to the official England 2018 (http://www.youtube.com/user/officialengland2018) youtube site however are not exactly filling me with total excitement. I almost dozed off watching one.

If you want to see how we do it down under, check out Nicole Kidman in Australia’s bid reel (http://media.businessday.com.au/sport/sports-hq/kidman-helps-world-cup-bid-943850.html). Yes, we even like to beat England at making promotional videos!

One big story

What has been the most important sport business story of 2009 and why? Has it changed sport forever? Will it fundamentally impact upon sport? How have the effects manifested themselves? What will the outcomes be?

I am enabling the comments section of my blog for a week in order for people to post their views....I would be interested to know what you think.

Secret agents?

Following the introduction of a new set of regulations, the Premier League has for the first time revealed how much clubs such as Manchester United and Chelsea pay to agents involved in player transfer deals. The money paid out between October 2008 and September 2009 is £70 million, an average of around £360,000 per transaction. What has the public disclosure of these sums revealed? Are they going to allay fears amongst some people that the dealings of agents are too secretive and shrouded in mystery? Will will see a more open, transparent approach to agency emerging? Is it an example of good governance? But does the publication of the figures actually change anything? What do they tell us about why the money was paid to the agents, where the money has gone, or what it has been used for? Isn't regulation or legislation a better way to exercise the kind of control on agents that is required in order to bring a much stronger set of principles to the player transfer market? And what about the European Union? The Lisbon Treaty has now been ratified; sport is one of the competences within the Treaty; the regulation of agents is part of this competence; a report is due from the EU in which recommendations for monitoring/regulating/legislating on agents are made. When will we see it?