I’m surprised there’s not already a thread about this.
What effect do you think this will have on the sport?
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this is a terrible idea. First of all, I must say, I disapprove of gambling. When they brought gambling boats to Missouri, they PROMISED it would be millions of dollars to the schools. However, it didn’t happen that way, and the money it did bring in, allowed them to cut other funding to the schools, so now they are totally dependent on gambling for their revenue. I don’t have to mention the wrecked lives from gambling, as that will probably fall on deaf ears, but I am also looking at the recently departed Pete Rose.
He was rightly banned from Baseball for gambling on his own team. But now all manor of sports are inundated with sports betting. They have piously decided even though he is now dead, that he cannot be inducted into the Hall of Fame. What he did was wrong, but he is dead. He was a terrific player. Sports betting is just evil. I cannot believe eventing is even thinking about it.
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Betting on horse racing in the UK is interesting. We now have a situation in which the horse breeders, owners, trainers, stable staff, jockeys and all the many other types of employment that are involved in racing - are paying the bills, earning the wages and running an industry. Off to the side we have a few really big betting companies that live off the horse racing but who pay a diminishing amount of money back into the sport and have gone off-shore (to avoid taxation) and are on-line. The Government earns a big chunk of money from betting taxes but the big boys in the betting industry have a highly effective political lobby compared with the fragmented and fractious racing industry. It was not always so.
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I don’t have any problem with it per se, but I’m worried about the subtext of why they are employing this.
Are they trying to be innovative or is this a Hail Mary attempt to help the event survive by a stadium authority who is out of touch with the sport? I could make arguments for both cases.
I really really really want to see this event thrive. But I am worried; they have made enemies of a lot of the local horse population for various reasons. And entires have been so low it makes it seem like it isn’t getting support from the eventing community, which I’m not sure if that’s truth or just an unlucky coincidence. Also, as an attendee, while it is a fabulous event (I highly encourage anyone reading this to go), I think there is a lot of room for improvement when it comes to making it appealing to the general non-horsey public.
If they add slots next, I’ll know it’s a death knell. 
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As a Non-Competing, former tadpole in the Eventing pond, all I pictured was a version of the Derby infield crowd.
If the idea takes off, the Great Unwashed drawn by the idea of winning $$.
Picturing the port-a-pottys & beer-filled coolers lining the XC course 
Foam fingers in the Dressage & SJ stands…
Nope, not a great idea 
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None of this is a concern of mine. Quite frankly that’s the goal and that stuff already happens to a degree.
My concern is more with wagering logistics. For example, in racing, a jockey/connections are expected to enter a race with the intention to perform their best. A jockey can be penalized for not riding a race to win if it can be proven.
Does that mean we now have that expectation for the 5 star level of eventing? If Jane Doe is fulfilling her life long dream of riding a 5 star and is aiming for “just” a completion, is that a problem? If Big Name Favorite rider has a young horse she just wants to give a confidence building round to, is that now a problem? If world number 1 rider on his top mount who is favorite to win pulls up his horse on XC because the horse doesn’t feel quite right, is that now a problem?
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I doubt it’s a sign the event is struggling. There’s been a big push to relax sports betting rules in general over the past few years in DC/MD/VA so I’m guessing this is just someone at the event looking to build on that.
To the original question, I doubt this will have any meaningful impact on the event or the sport at all. It’s not going to suddenly draw in a bunch of people that wouldn’t have come otherwise, but I could see it appealing to the non-horsey spouses or to eventing fans that are used to betting on mainstream sports already. It’ll be a fun sidebar for some people and most won’t even know it’s there. If it brings in a little more revenue to help the event out then even better.
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Who is the money going to? A certain percentage should go back to the event.
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This. And I don’t think people realize how much appealing to the non-horsey spouses can boost engagement (it’s come up in the context of Eventing Manager fairly often). If I like watching the 5*s and usually hang out in my living room and cheer by myself, but suddenly my spouse cares because they’ve got a bet on Phillip Dutton or something, they might find themselves watching with me, or asking me questions about how Phillip will do over the dinner table, or cheering along.
If that snowballs over a season or over a few runnings of the event, suddenly attending the even itself - what would be a budgetary luxury for just one spouse to do alone - can become the family trip that everyone is excited about. It seems like a little thing, but even if 1% of the at-home audience decides to go to Maryland or Kentucky instead of Orlando for Disney (not picking on poor Orlando, especially right now - we’re thinking of you guys this week) and buy tickets and merch and beer and a hotel stay, that’s a huge impact. And it does all start with engagement.
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I think that boasts a little of exclusivity of the sport. “We don’t want those kinds of people” here we say. Now granted, the images of drunken men falling over with a PBR in hand is probably an easy one to convince others to avoid. But, what does it really mean? You know, that “drunken man” probably has a child, he comes from a family. That statement “the Great Unwashed,” “foam fingers” in the stands… Oh my freaking goodness. That holder of the foam finger has a heart, they’re a person. They may be a bit easy to make fun of, but at the end of the day myself with my Roekle gloves and designer helmet is no better than someone who can chug a Miller and takes his friends to watch some horses. Who are you to say someone of ANY background isn’t welcome here.
You know what I say? You want to check out this sport that I find so cool and am passionate about? Come on in. Let me share these incredible animals to the public and make it known what an amazing group of people and horses we have here. I’m not about to make it more difficult for anyone to get involved.
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WOW. Just wow…I’m an eventer and member of the great unwashed that uses a port-a-potty for work every day in order to afford entrance fees, and drinks beer walking my cross country course and after I’ve ridden it and even share one with my horse. Now I need to buy a foam finger.
If betting generates interest, attendance, and a percent of revenue back to the event organizers, then why not. Works for NASCAR, football, baseball and assorted other Great Unwashed sports.
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The May steeplechase racing that used to take place at Fair Hill was very much a carnival atmosphere with a huge attendance. They’ve lost the racing there, they might be trying to get that audience back.
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I was thinking steeplechasing, too.
The entire NSA is one high profile drunk driving accident away from losing their entire attendance base.
I also have no problem with the “infield” and “tailgating” party atmosphere. If it generates revenue it is fine by me. XC is way too spread out for any drunken debauchery to become problematic, anyway (minus that whole drunk driving part).
They already have a beer and wine fest at the Maryland 5 Star.
I have no problem with the betting so long as it a) isn’t a last ditch effort to survive and b) doesn’t force riders to make decisions based on the potential to win. I would really hate good horsemanship to be punished for the sake of wagering. I know all too well how wagering affects what you can and can’t do in horse racing; it’s not necessarily a big deal in horse racing because the game is much more straightforward. But it does give me pause WRT to XC riding.
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My Bad. 
Maybe I should have included the ; \ for sarcasm?
My sole experience with non-horsy attendees at an Event was at a St James Farm’s Charity waaaaaay back early 90s.
Spectators kept wandering onto the XC while riders were on course.
Some with their dogs.
This was so long ago there was no tape marking the boundaries.
It was all Jump Judges could do to keep them back.
I’d like to think the crowds would be more like the B&B hosts who showed up to watch DH & I compete at our 1st rated Event
When we’d told them why we were spending the night, we returned from dinner out to a basket with a mini-split of champagne & treats.
Then both showed up at the venue the next day.
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I’m just rolling my eyes at the thought that anyone would be foolish enough to try to predict the outcome of an event accurately enough to put money on it.
It makes horse racing look like a safe bet. Which it obviously is not. Lol.
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Can you shed light on how the organizers have made enemies with the local horse community? Genuine question, this is the first I’ve heard of this.
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It’s been a big point of contention. And to be clear, it’s not everyone.
The two big problems have been regarding access to the fairgrounds and the racetrack.
The Cecil County Fair is a big event in the community, and in addition to the midway, there are large and popular 4H shows and horse shows associated. There was a lot of fear that the 4H groups and fair would not be able to access the land or would be priced out of using it; this honestly seems like it has been a non-issue, although others may disagree. The fair has still continued now that the 5 Star is there.
The bigger problem is the loss of use of the Fair Hill steeplechase racetrack. Fair Hill has always had a turf and steeplechase course- that’s why the grandstands were there to begin with. (This is different than the training center across the road) Part of the 5 Star’s “pitch” was that they would redo the racing surface as part of the improvements and even expand the facility with more racing dates. And they did redo the surface…. Allegedly poorly and cheaply. It has been deemed unfit and unsafe for racing. The Memorial Day Fair Hill Races plus all of the pony racing they used to host have been canceled indefinitely until it is repaired, but I guess the 5 star/stadium authority is not making any movement on this. This has angered a lot of people, even people who couldn’t care less about racing.
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They definitely screwed up the steeplechase course for sure. It’s beautiful though. Wonder if they had golf course designers build it instead of race course people
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Ah-ha. Thank you for the explanation about the steeplechase issue. I sat at a picnic table last year with some people who alluded to the issues but I did not really understand what they were talking about. It’s really too bad, because I could imagine a relationship could benefit both events: people who go to the steeplechase would be interesteded in attending the 5* and vice versa. I am fairly certain that would be true for my husband, who has zero interest in most horse things but really enjoys going to the 5*.
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I live here and am very, very involved with a lot of things that go on in Fair Hill. On top of what @Texarkana mentioned the cost to hold an event there (and that’s not using anything that “belongs” to the 5 star) has gone up astronomically and they removed access to a good chunk of trails. They also didn’t fix the problems the problems that were supposed to be fixed like the water pressure issues
I was 100% against the 5 Star when it first got started but I’ve wavered a bit, especially as they are giving local businesses a good boost (including mine) . There is a LOT of room for improvement though and I don’t think that betting is the way to do it
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