Interactive
XB NET N. AMERICAN HORSE RACING
XB Net: Running with the field
Simon Fraser, Senior Vice President of International at XB Net, assesses how North American horse racing has been flying the flag for live sport during the pandemic.
Simon Fraser, Senior Vice President of International, XB Net
From Gulfstream Park in Florida to Los Alamitos in California, our racetracks have been able to stage racing behind closed doors, with the welfare of all participants paramount and stringently observed. Happily, humans are not the central protagonists in this sport. While our vast tracks afford ample room for logistical movements, with sensible social distancing and safety more easily acquired now that the fans are staying home.
P122 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA
In life, it’s often possible to be unaware of what you’re missing out on. Anything could conceivably be better – careers, relationships, hobbies, diets – you just don’t have the opportunity or inclination to try them all. Consequently, to some significant extent, we’re all hostages to fortune in the preferences we form around the narrower world with which we actually collide.
Te entertainment business is a microcosm of this. Tere’s far too much choice to try every channel that’s competing for our time and attention. So, we invariably default to our own pre-existing preferences - based on what’s familiar or recommended by the peers and media we trust.
Live sport and its attendant sportsbooks are just another funnel at the entertainment factory, vying for recreational market share. Te trouble is that this popular and lucrative funnel has been abruptly cut off at source, ever since the outbreak of COVID-19 put the planet on pause, bringing the worldwide sporting schedule to a juddering halt.
Even dark clouds can create silver linings
though, and US horse racing across many states is one of the few top-class sports which has been able to maintain both a solid timetable and high standards throughout the present pandemic. In fact, in an entertainment vacuum of live sports, it arguably stands alone as a proven premium product whose live streaming and data services are not beset with the integrity concerns and market suspensions that have blighted tertiary “filler” sports like Nicaraguan football, Russian table-tennis or exhibition tennis. Instead, US horse racing provides a trustworthy and regular flow of rapid-cycle betting opportunities which engage audience eyeballs, whether they’re interested in watching one race or an entire card.
At XB Net, by virtue of our huge racecourse network, we’ve been quick to recognise and respond to this unique opportunity for North American racing with a record number of deals with our global operators and their customers over the past few months. From Gulfstream Park in Florida to Los Alamitos in California, our racetracks have been able to stage racing behind
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