Fractions or Decimals?

There is a proposal from the cross industry reform group Racing for Change to replace fractional odds with decimal pricing at betting shops and on course bookmakers as part of an investigation into how to make racing more popular to the younger generation but not everybody is happy with the proposals. In case you do not know the difference, a horse offered at odds of 6-4 would be expressed in decimal terms as 2.5, the difference being that the decimal odds reflect the total return that you would get including the stake whereas with 6-4 you need to add back your original stake. Some online bookmakers have dealt in decimal for some time but there is usually an option somewhere on the site to have either. David Williams, a spokesman from Ladbrokes said ”Anything that will help slow down or reverse the trend that has seen people moving away from racing has to be welcomed” but David Hood from William Hill said “The items revealed by Racing for Change do not offer the solutions we had hoped for”; “we had a trial of a decimal odds football betting coupon two years ago and it proved to be extremely unpopular. There is no research to indicate that our customers want it”

John McCririck had a good take on it when he said that customers would be missing out as if a horse is going out from 7-2 it can only go to 4-1 as it stands at the moment but with decimalisation it can go from  4.5 to 4.6  (36-10). 4.7 etc.

Chris McFadden who is Chairman of Racing Enterprises Ltd that is leading the Racing for Change project said “Fundamentally there is little wrong with racing as an entertainment, leaisure and betting medium” but almost everybody in the racing industry agrees that cheaper racecourse admission would certainly promote the sport; we tend to agree. In much the same way as online casinos are taking business from live casinos because amongst other things it is cheaper, so the ease with which you can place small wagers on horses with online bookmakers is taking business away from the course where you have to pay a small fortune for the privilege of the atmosphere as well as the costs of travel to get there.