what about the idea of a 'big bet'?

​The National Lottery is a Government rubber-stamped scam, isn’t it? It is an in plain sight money-making machine that from its conception was designed to raise funds, firstly for Camelot and the British Government and now for the latter and the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, the current proprietors of the British National Lottery. It also provides funding for ‘good causes’, mainly, or so it seems to me, large and village-sized civil engineering projects that otherwise would have to paid for out of the public purse. Occasionally, it must be admitted, someone wins a life-altering amount of money.
Because of the lackadaisical approach by the powers-that-be to ensuring the sport they are charged with caring-for is adequately funded, horse racing is facing the very real possibility of falling off the edge of financial black hole. This embarrassment is in need of a speedy and long-lasting solution. I offer now a partial solution to a crisis that if left unresolved will become a recurring backdrop to the sport we all love.
In my previous piece on this site, I proposed starting the flat season with six ‘kick’ass’ valuable handicaps, headlined by the Lincoln, with the six races forming a ‘Scoop 6’ type national bet with a guaranteed prize fund of £1-million pound. Starting the flat with a bang rather than its traditional whimper. This, of course, would need to be marketed and promoted through advertising and the media, with High Street bookmakers offering their support and guidance.
I would go as far to suggest that such a ‘Big Bet’, if it could be organised on a regular basis, could inject much-needed revenue into the sport. Ideally, if it were to stand a chance of competing with the National Lottery, the ‘Big Bet’ should be every weekend, with special ‘Big Bets’, to give greater prominence to the major race-meetings, organised for Cheltenham, Royal Ascot and Goodwood, etc. Outside of the closed-shop that is the racing world, races of the importance of the 2,000 Guineas, Cambridgeshire and the Ebor, to name but three such historic races, are unknown to the general public. In fact, away from the Grand National and the Derby, and the event known as Royal Ascot, even the sporting public are to a man ignorant of our sport. If the last leg of a million-pound ‘Big Bet’ was to be the 2,000 Guineas, the Wokingham or Cambridgeshire, we could start to introduce the public to our sport, to educate and excite their curiosity.
If such a ‘Big Bet’ could be established, money raised through the price of entry, I would suggest £1 per go, could help to fund prize money and to raise money for equine charities, as well as providing the punter who presently gambles weekly on the National Lottery, with a more lucrative and exciting alternative.
The top prize, or indeed any of the four-figure and above prizes, are rarely won on the National Lottery. If half-a-million pounds or even a million could be guaranteed by a horse racing ‘Big Bet’ it would be seen as an easier opportunity to win big. As I know from my own experience, people only stay loyal to the Lottery because after investing so much over so long a time-period they feel they are owed a good pay-out. It is also a matter of habit, as with buying alcohol or cigarettes. It is just something we all do. We chase a fantasy lifestyle.
The powers-that-be need to be looking for innovative ways to boost funding. If my ‘Big Bet’ proposal, selecting the winners of six races or something similar, only generated £50,000 per month, it would add over £600,000 to the prize money pot. And think what amazing work the equine charities could do if a similar amount could be donated to them?
This sort of ‘super-bet’ has failed in the past, of course, and I am neither naïve or bold enough to suggest this is racing’s silver bullet. But short of nationalising bookmakers to ensure all profit from betting goes into racing’s coffers, I cannot see how prize-money can be subsidized that does not ask owners to contribute more in entry fees. The Grand National provides evidence to tell you that the greater British public are prepared to enter a betting shop if the incentive is seductive enough to tempt them.
I would urge the powers-that-be to talk to experts in this field in an attempt to find the right formula to give the proposal of a ‘Big Bet’ a good opportunity of raising money to bulk-up prize money, to raise money for equine charities and to offer the public the opportunity to win a life-changing amount of money. It need not be £100-million or even £5-million. A guaranteed £500,000 would still be more than is normally won on the National Lottery.