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Standardbred Canada Takes a Step

April 30th 2008

 2 comments

Standardbred Canada's Wagering Conference is over and I suppose we'll ultimately know how successful it has been in, say, ten years, when we know whether there is mainline harness racing left in Canada or the United States. But I will give SC credit big-time for the effort and the coordination and, most important, the game-plan to go forward. Canada now has proven conclusively that it is several steps ahead of America when it comes to facing the fearful future with courage and determination.
 
Read up a bit on the 24 "stakeholders" who now have pledged to look for specific ways to fix the industry and lure in new customers. Check out the candid comments offered all week there and at the Canadian Gaming Conference-- no one can ever again say in 2008 industry representatives hadn't identified the problems! And then come back here and chime in.
 
Should the USTA follow suit? If not, why not and what else? And are you bothered by the fact that the only USTA represenative at the Wagering Conference was an online reporter for the website.
 
 
 

Comments

Andrew Cohen said...

Paul-- any USTA official who did not believe that a Standardbred Wagering Conference in Montreal (hosted by Standardbred Canada and including some of the biggest players in the industry) would generate "valuable" information ought to be fired. It's as simple as that. It's bad enough that the USTA cannot offer its own equivalent but not to even attend and learn from what SC did is inexcusable.

posted at 9:55 PM on Apr 30th 2008

Paul Siegel said...

Perhaps the USTA Marketing Advisory Committee being formed by Ivan Axelrod can bring these issues under its umbrella.

I'm not disappointed that the USTA sent only a Website reporter for the simple reason that the USTA, by definition, could not have been an active participant in a conference designed to address wagering in Canada, unless those in charge of the conference had thought US input would be valuable enough to warrant an invitation to the US representatives.

posted at 8:41 PM on Apr 30th 2008

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