The bookmakers and the racing industry

The role of the bookmakers is once again the subject of serious discussion. The pro-moting company is facing serious financial challenges and has again called for a tote monopoly. Before examining the pros and cons of this most recent request, it is important that we look at the genesis of the bookmaking sector and the role they have played in the development of the racing industry.

For as long as racing has been around, so too has the bookmaker - the person who takes bets. In the very early days, the bookmaker and horse owner were often one and the same.

Modern bookmaking appears to have had its forerunner in the 1940s with Frank Watson's Off-Course Betting, which conducted off-track pari-mutuel betting and acted as agent of the racing promoters of the day. A break with the promoting company in 1955 led to the start of independent bookmaking as we have it today.

Still, bookmaking was not an activity that was legally sanctioned and there was a constant adversarial relationship between the bookmakers and racing promoters, who opposed their activities. Bookmakers were generally perceived as scoundrels and parasites preying upon the racing industry, and their activities as detrimental to the sport.

In the 1960s, representations were made to Sir Alexander Bustamante to legalise bookmakers, and my good friend Cecil Charlton, the long-reigning president of the Jamaica Bookmakers Association, recalls that "The Chief" encouraged bookmakers to band together in an association, to better represent their case.

The Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act (1966) paved the way for legalised bookmaking. By the beginning of the 1970s, the 20th-century horse-racing pioneer, Frank Watson, was joined by other established companies. Track Price Plus and Charles Off Course Betting were already established, to be followed by Ideal Betting, Summit, Cornwall, Post to Post and, much later, Folly's Betting in 1993.

Caught in a time warp

Today, the racing industry in general, and bookmakers in particular, seem to be caught in a time warp. Old structures and outdated thinking persist, even though the rapidly changing gaming industry, new technologies and new thinkers dictate a strong imperative for fundamental change in racing and in the relationship between bookmakers, promoters and regulators of the sport.

This dichotomy is cited as the source of a split in the ranks of bookmakers - with the traditional Jamaica Bookmakers Association, the body first formed to represent bookmakers, pitted against the newer United Bookmakers Association.

Today, the Jamaica Bookmakers Association represents less than 20 per cent of the bookmaking activity. The United Bookmakers, whose members are Track Price Plus, Markham and Champion betting, is said to represent some 80 per cent of the market share for bookmakers.

Today, bookmakers have a network of some 600 outlets throughout the island. Their contribution to govern-ment revenue is estimated at $200 million annually

Among bookmakers, there is a grave recognition that change must come to the industry if racing is to survive and grow. The introduction of new forms of gaming makes this change even more urgent, they maintain.

The industry has recently been liberalised and opening hours for bookmakers now coincide with those of the promoting company, Caymanas Track Limited, and its Off-Track Betting stations. They are now allowed to sell a wide range of gaming products and their taxation has been restructured to a payment of 16.5 per cent of gross profit.

This liberalisation policy was introduced without any thought of the effect that this would have on the 'supplier' of the product being marketed by the bookmakers. Policymakers seem to be blinded by the tax collected without realising that this limits the bookmaker to make a meaningful contribution to the sustained viability of the promoting company.

The request for a tote monopoly by the promoting company is not a recent phenomenon, this has been an ongoing problem ever since the legalisation of bookmaking and the failure of successive governments to channel back to the promoting company funds collected from the bookmaking activity. Well, the goose that laid the golden egg has now died. I am certain that the request for a tote monopoly will be denied.

Howard Hamilton is a former chairman of Caymanas Track Limited and is currently president of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. He may be contacted at howham@cwjamaica.com.