Beefed-up world pool and ‘more vibrant’ fan engagement can help racing stay relevant

Jockey Club chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges believes improvements to “completely outdated” technology will allow exponential expansion of the world pool and equip racing with the tools required to engage the next generation of fans.

Speaking at the 39th Asian Racing Conference in Melbourne, Engelbrecht-Bresges – who is also chairman of the Asian Racing Federation – shared his thoughts on how racing can regenerate its ageing fan base at a time when the growth of sports betting is outpacing racing wagering.

“We need innovation in the tote sector and that’s why we think technology needs to catch up,” Engelbrecht-Bresges said, revealing that 43 per cent of racing’s customers are aged 55 and above and only 3 per cent are below 25.

“We have to build platforms to enable our sport to grow internationally. We have to build a technology platform to enable us to embrace Web 3.0 developments and to be relevant to Generation Z.

“A lot of the time I feel that we from industry look too much inward, we look at our product, but we don’t look what a customer experience has to be. If we don’t combine world-class sport with entertainment and don’t look at what the different customer segments see as interesting, we will not be relevant going forward.

“The younger customer doesn’t want to be associated with wagering, they don’t want to be seen as punters even if they have a wagering propensity. You don’t want to brand it wagering, you have to brand it as sport and even better as global sport.

“We have no problem now, but if you look five or 10 years ahead … we have to become more vibrant.”

Jockey Club executive director of wagering products Michael Fitzsimons outlined how technology can be used to engage young fans at a time when a new “racing wagering information transaction protocol” is in the pipeline.

“For wagering operators the path forward is clear – customers want to be part of the content creation, consumption loop and they want to share their wins and losses with their own community,” Fitzsimons said.

“Simplicity, guidance and the elimination of friction [is critical]. As we move to the new protocol, this will give us the ability to offer more interesting bets. But really what’s important is the industry needs to be standardised and we need the same products, the same rules, the same tools, the same features, and that’s what the new protocol will be able to deliver.”

Engelbrecht-Bresges hopes the world pool can expand from its 20 fixtures during the 2021-22 season to 100 in the “very foreseeable future”, and there are plans to include first four, quartet, six up, double trio and triple trio betting options.

“If you want to expand – when you look at technicalities like declarations, changing of starters, whatever – at the moment we have to manage a lot of things completely fragmented,” he said of the world pool, which will operate in Australia for the first time at Saturday’s Lightning Stakes meeting at Flemington.

“This is why we need a completely integrated protocol, then we can roll this out at much greater speed. We should have a daily programme with world pools, which combines the best races in the world, but we need this protocol which enables us to really grow.

“One of the keys from our point of view and why [the Hong Kong] product is so successful is that we give the customer all the information they want. I think it will grow but we will have to grow it with partners who are able to provide the same customer experience.”

A commingled tote pool, the world pool – which attracted turnover of nearly HK$7 billion in 2022 – is run by the Jockey Club and features pari-mutuel operators from across the globe with the aim of offering unparalleled liquidity to punters and injecting more back into the industry.