For photos from the Meadowlands contact Lisaphoto@playmeadowlands.com

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Is This Any Way to Run a Business?

Tomorrow is the Elitlopp and some locations will have wagering on races 6-14 of the Solvalla racing program.  So you are excited about it and are looking for a program so you can do your handicapping?  After all, with an 8:35am EDT post time, who is that sharp in the morning.

Now, perhaps your ADW provider is better than the NJAW, run by the incompetent NJSEA is and you have access to the program.  You can show up tomorrow morning at the Meadowlands and you will be able to get some bastardized version of a North American past performance program with perhaps a few minutes left to wager on the V75, but if you are someone who will wager on the Elitlopp using your ADW account (assuming they get the wagering open in time, something NJAW has not been very good at in the past), or if you are resourceful or have a friend who is, you may come across this site where you get the Swedish version of a racing program and hope you can decipher it (now you know how first timers feel about our own past performance program), but heaven forbid anyone makes arrangements to print an North Americanized version of the Swedish program.  But then, that would imply they want  harness gamblers to wager on the races?

Now of course, with regards to the thoroughbreds, it is a different story.  If you are a TVG customer, you can find FREE past performances of international thoroughbrd racing, now the programs are not as detailed as the North American programs, but you can at least make sense of it and make an intelligent wager, and the best thing is the programs are available ahead of time.  Or you can go to Brisnet's site and get Timeform ratings (don't ask me to explain them) or free international past performance programs (if you are a Brisnet customer).

Granted harness racing is not as popular as thoroughbred racing, but it isn't that the information is not available.  A program is available for the normal free V64 and V75 racing programs made available in North America through Track Data Systems using ATG's (the Swedish tote provider) database.  How hard would it be to contract with them to post the information online for the Elitlopp program?

And we wonder why thoroughbred racing is more popular than harness racing?  At least the thoroughbreds make it easy for you to wager on foreign races.  I guess for harness racing, it is a case of pick a name, or in the case of the Elitlopp, you have a Swedish friend who can translate their program for you.

Update In Incompetency: The Meadowlands promoted NJAW will be handling the Elitlopp starting with the first elimination at 8:35.  The sixth and seven races (the eliminations) were run and as typical for NJAW, the pools were still closed for wagering.  If this was only the first time it happened, it would not be a problem, but this is typical for NJAW.  Wagering finally opened in time for the eighth race.  But when it was time for the second heat (11th race), you couldn't wager on it because they didn't update the system with the horses' names; again something they have messed up before.  If nothing else, NJAW once again messed things up.  Hopefully, when the Gural team comes in, things will be better; otherwise, open up New Jersey to other ADWs.

3 comments:

Jim H. said...

Here's an email I just sent...I thought you might like to see it. I like the intent but there are issures with implementation:

To Whom It May Concern:

Your records will show that I registered w/Harringtonbets.com very recently; a deposit prior to 5/31 was required to qualify for the promo. To qualify, I went to Harrington Raceway to make a deposit:

1. No one at the Harrington Racebook knew anything about Harringtonbets.com—they could not have been nicer but clearly were unfamiliar with the service.
2. No one at the Harrington Raceway knew anything about Harringtonbets.com—again, they could not have been nicer but clearly were unfamiliar with the service.
3. I then spoke with Matt—track handicapper, who was familiar with Harringtonbets.com; I was unable to make a deposit at the track itself.

While I had a pleasant conversation with Matt, it became obvious that the opening of Harringtonbets.com was premature. Now, I am sure that eventually everything will work out but clearly, a customer trying to make a deposit should not have this much difficulty. Not to belabor the obvious but companies normally like to facilitate cash acceptance from customers.

The website looks great and I would like to participate and will do so once I am able to make a deposit at the venue itself. I understand that there are other alternatives but all have extraneous associated fees (and I note that while you are able to take care of some of the fees, you are not able to address all of them).

So, please let me know when you are ready and I will make a deposit at my very next visit to Harrington.

Right now, I am not even sure if the keypads at the Harrington Racebook recognize Harringtonbets.com accounts...I suspect not.

You obviously have much work to do—I hope you proceed with all diligence because it looks like you have a superior website.

That Blog Guy said...

Jim H. I can't speak in detail because I don;t know the arrangements made by Harrington Raceway. Harringtonbets.com is actually a wagering platform mananaged by ebets.com which is licensed by the Oregon Racing Commission. Now, I do see they are advertising on the Harrington Raceway website which means at the very least, they are authorized to use the Harrington name, but it is not operated by Harrington; otherwise it would have to be licensed by the DHRC. I am sure they had to be approved by Delaware authorities,

This is similar to the way Yonkers decided to have their account wagering handled by TVG.

A lot of the smaller racetrack contracted out their ADW service. But sincce it is really a different company, things like what you are experiencing is not uncommon.

Jim H. said...

I am sure you are correct in your comments; my point is directed more at some pretty basic stuff. To wit, before you turn on the switch, tell your people about it especially if it's on your website)...and make it easy for people to give you money.

Frankly, this is something that I would have expected at Dover...not at Harrington. The people at Harrington have always been very customer friendly and I'm sure, in time, the glitches will be addressed and everything will be streamlined.

Couple the harringtonbets.com w/WiFi at the venue and you have a winner.