October 9, 2011
Broadcasting time hiatus hits the normal bettor
Further delays in broadcasting “live” racing on the At The Races station are becoming a lifeline to some racetracks as pro bettors take advantage of backing in real time against folk viewing on UK horseracing at home.
Viewers watching At The Races have always suffered a delay in the transmission of racing, and often that delay is lengthier than on other channels. For instance, live racing on the BBC truly is live, and broadcasts on Channel 4 are less than a second slower than real-time. Subscribers to Racing UK are subject to a delay of around 2 seconds, Betfair Radio is somewhere around 7 seconds behind the live happenings, while At The Races now trails in the back of the field with a delay of 8 seconds.
Last month, engineering work carried out by Sky, a major shareholder in ATR, increased the time it takes for footage to get to the screen by around two seconds. A Sky Sports spokesman outlined the method by which the signal is broadcast. He revealed, “Our footage are channelled thousands of miles and there are 7 stages from the racetrack to the settee. The setback varies dependent on many technical factors, but essentially all channels on the Sky platform are subject to some level of delay. The upside is we will be able to transmit sport from all around the planet in 3-D and high-definition.”
Racing UK also sends pictures from abroad, but is not reliant on Sky to beam a signal thru. It also makes far-reaching use of fibre-optic wires, which transmit a signal more swiftly.
ATR themselves estimate the hiatus to be between 5 and seven seconds, but recognize this is much too long for anyone needing to bet in play to do so while watching their service. Professional bettor Graham Wheldon has already questioned ATR about the amendment and is less than OK with their reply. He said, “When the first increase in picture delay was brought in by ATR, we were told ATR spectators put picture standard ahead of speed. But the picture definition stayed the same. And the picture quality is still same after that this latest 2.7 seconds increase in picture delays. No explanation has been offered and ATR have not answered e-mails from one or two folks I know asking what has happened.”
Asked whether this was having any result on exchange betting Tony Calvin, chief of media at Betfair related, “Betfair has no control of The speed of photos offered by broadcasters but we make our buyers totally familiar with the possible delays, both during and before bet placement. We have not noticed any decline in volumes or activity as regards in running betting.”
What has iterated though is the behaviour of some of the large pro punters. The delay gives them extra time to place gambles with punters whose understanding of the in race events is several seconds behind their own. Courses such as Southwell and Wolverhampton have found they are able to provide compensation for the fall in company hospitality by hiring boxes to in-running players. With costs of almost 500GBP for a box and anywhere from 20 to 30 professional punters at each meet this new line of business is bringing in close on 100,000GBP for each track over the course of the year.
Dave Roberts, CEO at both Southwell and Wolverhampton announced, “With the economic downturn we lost plenty of hospitality business and the in running punters filled up the opening. They are definitely a vital part of our business because they come to every meeting, which suggests we have regular hospitality customers. There may come a time when this purchaser no longer exists. I don't actually know what the following turn will be whatever it is I will try to take advantage of it.”
Once more, it's the ordinary man in the street player who lucks out.
Matt Bisogno owns and writes for geegeez.co.uk, the UK’s foremost independent provider of horse racing stories, betting tips, gambling system reviews and odds comparison.
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