Different Ways to Engage Betting Customers

I was taking a break for lunch and guess what I was doing? Yep, handicapping. I came across the Tampa first race and I noticed the 7 – Sky Fuse – at 1-5 on the board. This seemed way out of whack to me because she did not look anywhere near a 1-5 shot. So I flipped on Betfair to see what the sharpies thought. She was trading at around even money. Overall at a minute or two to post, she traded over $100,000, with a high price of around 3-1 and a low price of around 2-5. The chart is below.

As is often the case it got me thinking. Most of the time when you or I see a 2-5 shot in a shorter field, we turn the page. There is no engagement for us, there is no ‘pull’ for us to dive in and bet the race in the pari-mutuel pools. Sure we could study and try and beat the chalk (this filly came third, so that was certainly sharp) but more times than not, we simply look to the next simulcast race (I turned right to AQU after seeing the odds board for the Tampa first).

But when we broaden things and market to a new market, this race is not a page turner, this race is an engager. Someone bought the filly at 3-2 (there was over $1000 traded around 3-2) then sold her for a profit. Some people did not like her and bet against her (10′s of thousands were traded at around 2-5), maybe hoping to get her back at 3-5 later. They were completely engaged, whereby this race traded around $200,000.

When we innovate and use different means to engage and energize betting customers we can make a race that is an absolute snoozefest to you and me, a betting event to others who do not bet like us.