HORSE RACING REFORM: A ROUND TABLE AT IGE

An hour and a half of debate centred on the varied world of horse racing enlivened the last part of the first day of the Italian Gaming Expo & Conference currently taking place in Rome. ‘Reform of horse racing: innovation and sustainability for the future of gaming.’ The topic of the round table moderated by Mauro de Fabritiis of Mdf Partners in front of a packed audience, testifying to the great interest that the topic arouses even in these contexts. For the second consecutive year, an extremely high-quality and representative stage discussed some particularly topical issues for the horse racing sector, but above all on the search for solutions to reverse the negative trend in the collection of bets, from which the entire supply chain should draw its resources, which seems to remain so (although it is too early to say) despite the reduction in the levy rate on fixed-odds bets.

DE FABRITIIS (MDF PARTNERS): THE MARSHALL PLAN FOR HORSE RACING
In his introduction, De Fabritiis made a statement that is the fundamental premise, namely that the aforementioned alignment of the levy is nothing more than the first of a series of measures to be put in place in a sort of ‘Marshall Plan’ to save what was once called ‘the sport of kings’. ‘Measures ranging from the unification of totalisators, the expansion and harmonisation of the betting offer, and the inevitable optimisation of technical rules, but not only because then – added De Fabritiis – we also need interventions that support the racing product, such as media presence, the enhancement of the image of horse racing, the planning of schedules, and the improvement of image and data management.’

CHIODI (MASAF): ‘COMPREHENSIVE REFORM IN THE BUDGET BILL’
The General Manager for Horse Racing at Masaf, Remo Chiodi, reinforced the introductory thesis, specifying that ‘the levy on fixed-odds betting is just one of the many measures necessary to renew the entire sector’. In pointing out that it is logical to expect something more and better from the concessionaires compared to the poor results seen in the first part of the year (but already in March there has been an interesting recovery, editor's note) Chiodi also outlined "the path being traced by the institutions in an attempt to give impetus to renewal: from the newly established classification of racecourses with a good slice of 15% of resources linked to investments to improve the facilities, to the lowering of the VAT rate on the sale of foals aimed at favouring the breeding market, without neglecting measures for animal welfare, but all of this must be included in the framework of the overall reform of the sector provided for in the ‘annex’ to the Budget Law that will soon begin its parliamentary process and that will undoubtedly represent the mother of all reforms."

LOLLOBRIGIDA (ADM): “THE WORLD OF DEALERS MUST DO MORE”
Interesting comments also came from Mario Lollobrigida, Central Director of Gaming at the Customs and Monopolies Agency: "It's true – he said – that we expected a different result, a different reaction from the dealers, something we didn't see in the first quarter. The world of the concessionaires must do something more, also to avoid spreading the idea that the tax manoeuvre has benefited some more than others. We have offered our services to Masaf, added Lollobrigida, to work on the rest of the proposed measures (totalizators, single odd, etc.). However, these are actions that we cannot currently implement given the situation of the concessions (extended pending the new call for tenders, ed.), but they are all actions that will certainly be undertaken when we can fully implement the new concessions with a single type of betting collection right". This is an interesting objective because it would put an end to the diversity of collection by the commercial network, which has been one of the major problems that horse racing has had to face: ‘At that moment,’ concluded the Director, ‘we will finally be able to unify the totalisators, also guaranteeing greater liquidity, which is something that today is fundamentally lacking in totalisator games. These are all actions that we have already agreed upon. We are discussing the reform of concessions with the Regions and Local Authorities."

TARICONE (SISAL): “CONCESSIONAIRES READY TO TAKE UP THE CHALLENGE”
The floor was then given to the concessionaires, who are in some way called upon to provide greater support to the sector. Francesco Taricone from Sisal didn't shy away and, in true poker style, he raised the stakes: "Bringing together such a wide range of players and enthusiasts for the second year running is important. It gives the idea of a sector moving together towards a goal with constant progression. As has been said, taxation was only the first of a series of interventions. It could have gone better, but we are recovering. It's a challenge that we, the concession holders, accept because we see it as an important opportunity, so we must and want to do more, but obviously with the necessary time. We, as Sisal, have already made a series of interventions, we have undertaken promotional initiatives that need time and in fact we have already seen that in March the figures are improving. We are focusing a lot on an omnichannel approach and on the presence of horse racing not only online, but also on the physical sales network which is important to us. Three months is not a lot and it is no excuse. The interventions that have been put in place need a minimum amount of time to be assimilated by the public. I hope that at the next meeting we will be here to comment on significant growth. Having said that, we need to move forward and therefore we must work on the product, on lowering the minimum stake, on the organic nature of refunds and on the unification of protocols because allowing bettors to play sports and horse racing together can be a winning card, especially for creating new customers by drawing from the younger generations."

FECI (LOTTOMATICA): ‘VISIBILITY WITHIN THE AGENCIES DRIVING ON-LINE’
Samuele Feci of Lottomatica emphasised above all the unity shown by all gaming operators in their desire to achieve important results. "For our part, in the last 14 months we have included horse racing in 330 more agencies in our network: 60 in the last quarter alone. This is because we believe that the visibility of the product within the agencies is an investment also for online collection. We need to understand the trends and interests of the players. The measures illustrated, all obviously important and very useful, however, have different timescales for realisation. We therefore need to understand if there are things that can be done immediately. Some small, even gradual interventions could already start to bring benefits while waiting for the whole plan to be completed. We have already worked on the odds to make them more appealing, we also need to give time to be able to do promotional campaigns also with bonuses that are then recognised by the public who must realise that something is changing."

ROSI (MST): ‘FOUR FACTORS TO ENCOURAGE RECOVERY’
Michele Rosi, MST's COO, proposed a more analytical approach to the debate. ‘Undoubtedly, results have been achieved. It is obvious that tax reform should encourage us to move forward’ and so after having effectively established and then improved the international distribution of Italian races and data, and having worked actively to make the programme schedule competitive, above all by reducing delays to zero or almost zero and in some cases bringing them below the international average, Rosi has mapped out the way for possible improvement by identifying four primary factors:
1) Improving the images transmitted from the racetracks, in too many cases still in standard format, very few in HD and even fewer in 4K, and the progressive increase in the number of racetracks that will implement the tracking system in races.
2) Improving data transmission, which is too often inaccurate and not immediate. The progressive solution to the problem of reporting delays, which even today often occurs too late in a sector that has 200,000 races a year and therefore needs very tight deadlines.
3) Improvement in the quality of the races, especially in the number of starters, given that at a national level the average has standardised to between 13 and 15 starters per race.
4) Greater visibility in the schedules of the generalist media, fundamental for attracting new sectors of the public.
MST is working hard on all these points, also supporting the investments of the concessionaires.

PAUTASSO (FEDERIPPODROMI): ‘RACECOURCES, CITADELS OF LEGITIMATE GAMBLING’
Tracking, image quality, investments in structures, in a word ‘racecourses’: Elio Pautasso, President of Federippodromi, obviously reminded the audience of the problem of resources. ‘To invest, you need to have more resources and therefore increase the value of revenues: how can this be done? With the change in the tax rate on fixed-odds betting, a trend has been set in motion that has not yet produced great results, but we all hope to see them soon. We too have noticed that the number of betting shops is increasing, but I urge you not to neglect tote betting. In terms of proposals to help recovery, I believe I can identify two primary aspects; reforming the sector through the Finance Bill linked to the Budget mentioned by Director Chiodi is a fundamental step. We are all aware that the management of the sector through an agency proposed and controlled by the MASAF could be easier and more streamlined than the current one, despite all efforts, and therefore it is hoped that the process will be accelerated in this sense.
On the subject of gambling reform, since it has been talked about in recent months, I believe that allowing the establishment of large gambling collection centres within racecourses, which are places dedicated to safe and lawful gambling, and, since these are additional, using taxation with specific legislation to finance horse racing, could be another important step on the road to recovery."

STOPPINI (SNAITECH RACECOURSES): “THE LINK BETWEEN RACECOURSES AND BETTING IS UNBREAKABLE”
Lorenzo Stoppini, Snaitech Racecourses BU Director: "I represent a company that in 2015 started to ask itself what it could do to bring people to the racetrack, and it did so through events related to horses, but not only to racing. Then we thought about making sure that those who came to the racecourse had the opportunity to take advantage of services aimed at ‘facilitating’ their experience as spectators, and so we introduced coloured covers to better identify the horses; 5 big screens, information sheets on each horse, and pickets in front of the track. Then with the events meetings, the last one being the one held recently in the early evening, we realised that we have the opportunity to get new people interested in the sport. And since the link between the racecourse and betting is unbreakable, the maxim is: bring people to the racecourse, get them interested and then get them to bet."

ARLETTI (MODENA HIPPODROME): ‘A TECHNICAL DISCUSSION ON BETTING IS NECESSARY’
With the intervention of Alessandro Arletti from the Ghirlandina racecourse in Modena, who is also the representative of a syndicate that has proposed an alternative betting project, we returned to the subject of betting: "At the instigation of Dr Chiodi, we brought together a number of interested parties and presented a project for a new totalisator bet. We therefore hope that the discussion can take place as soon as possible with Adm. We are not against reducing taxation on fixed-odds betting, but we think it is appropriate and useful to align taxation for totalisator betting as well. Our intention is obviously to increase the takings. We are not in favour of taking revenue away from the state but rather of increasing our share considering the enormous total volume of the gaming market, which shows that there is room for us to enter. What we are proposing is a simple instant bet that can also attract the younger generations. We ask that another round table be organised to find a solution that will bring revenue to the State and the horse racing industry’.

On the sidelines of the round table, Giorgio Sandi also spoke from the audience, expressing on the one hand concern for the extremely critical phase the sector is going through, but on the other also the perception of everyone's firm will to pursue recovery. ‘We must try to do what is possible quickly and therefore an urgent collective effort is needed. There's not much time, there aren't enough resources for everyone in the supply chain. A new bet could also favour a new promotion‘. He said
The ADM Director Lollobrigida accepted the appeal: ’We are willing to consider new proposals. We too are trying to change the range of bets on offer. So we welcome the opportunity to consider new proposals."