Standardbred Canada recently announced the development of a comprehensive plan to revitalize Ontario’s harness racing industry by allowing horse people to reinvest in their future and reduce reliance on government support. The formation of the Ontario Racing Development and Sustainability Plan has been in the works for well over a year and is the result of two wagering conferences, months of consultation with industry stakeholders, and numerous committee meetings emanating in part from SC’s Wagering Action Plan. The plan calls for a 5% levy taken from the Ontario purse pool.
Standardbred Canada will be hosting meetings of horse people and stakeholders across the province during the months of August and September to fully explain the Racing Development and Sustainability Plan and to answer any questions on its funding and implementation.
Jody Jamieson comments on the plan. “Every person in this industry has tremendous passion for what they do,” says Jamieson. “Each of them hopes for the long-term success of harness racing in this province. It’s time for all of us to step up and make a real investment in the future of our sport.
“I am asking every horseperson in Ontario to take responsibility and show their support for reinvesting in their future by signing the Racing Sustainability and Reinvestment Plan petition. The future of the industry we work in, love and are passionate about starts today, with a signature of support,” he continued.
“The timing has never been better for this project to get off the ground,” stated John Gallinger, president of Standardbred Canada. “Many in this industry are looking at the tenuous nature of harness racing in what were previously some of our strongest jurisdictions. The industry is in need of a comprehensive framework that focuses on real development and growth. This plan deals with the sport’s most critical issues, and the areas with the most potential for true long-term renewal – wagering, development and marketing.”
In short, we must act now — not tomorrow, or the day after, or the day after that. We must act NOW, while we still have the time and the resources to make a difference.
Why should funding for Ontario’s Racing Development and Sustainability Plan come from the purse pool?
Many in racing circles see the need to strategically reinvest for the future of harness racing. The source of the funding, however, is a topic of heated debate.
Standardbred Canada’s Racing Development and Sustainability Plan for the province of Ontario calls for a 5% levy taken directly from the standardbred purse pool across the province.
Between 1999, the first full year of the slots-at-racetracks program, and August of this year, $1.98 billion in purses have been distributed to Ontario’s horse owners and horsepeople. The funding has been tremendously successful in building the province to be one of the strongest racing jurisdictions in the world, supporting many thousands of jobs and helping drive an enormous amount of economic spinoff.
The purse levels have been generated from a number of sources, primarily from wagering and slot revenues. That funding has been absolutely vital in allowing Ontario’s breeders to be competitive and to invest in the future, and has resulted in huge agricultural benefits right across the province.
At the same time, the amount of funding dedicated to customer and wagering development, marketing and branding, has been minimal. Traditionally, the burden has fallen onto racetracks to promote their facilities. Many will argue that some have done a very good job of reinvesting and creating local demand. Others have not.
Province wide marketing investment has primarily been restricted to a fund managed by Ontario’s horsepeople called the Standardbred Revenue Allocation program (SRA), which earmarks a small percentage of betting handle to dedicate to items like youth programs and marketing projects. The funding earmarked to the horsepeople specifically for provincially oriented marketing is 10% of a 1% levy on wagering in the province (0.01% of wagering handle). Unfortunately, as handle drops in Ontario, the amount of funding available through the SRA program also drops.
Between 2002 and 2009, wagering on standardbred racing has dropped from $719 million to $431 million, a percentage of which emanated from Ontario. And while SRA funds are also generated on other simulcast betting as well, the numbers continue to dramatically slide.
In recent years, the SRA program, of which the horsemen’s component has primarily been guided by the Ontario Harness Horse Association, has been vital in supporting valuable programs such as the Ontario Youth Camp Program, Equine Guelph Research and the Wanna Bet program at tracks across the province.
While these programs are very important efforts, the amount of work that must be accomplished in Ontario is far greater than what these programs alone are capable of addressing.
After much consultation, it is the strong belief of Standardbred Canada that the greatest impact the Ontario industry can make is through a strong investment from those who rely the most on the future of the harness racing industry. The funding is available in Ontario, but it falls on owners and participants to make the choice to reinvest for their futures.
It should be stressed very strongly that the intention of this plan is to leverage these funds to build the industry, grow the customer and revenue base, and in turn increase purses above their current levels.
Outside of harness racing, in October 2006, the Ontario Racing Commission approved a Quarter Horse Racing Development Plan for the Ontario quarter horse industry. The plan called for money to be invested toward several areas of growth. In the sole area of ‘Expanding the Wagering Audience,’ for both 2009 and 2010, $302,500 was allocated to be spent annually.
Despite the fact that the quarter horse industry in Ontario consists of only one track and 35 race days per year, they have earmarked to invest $605,000 over two years toward ‘Expanding the Wagering Audience.’
How does this funding model compare to other industries?
Outside of horse racing, there are twenty-one provincial marketing boards and three representative associations representing approximately 60% of the value of all agricultural products produced by Ontario farms.
Those associations range from the Ontario Wheat Producers’ Marketing Board to the Ontario Pork Producers’ Marketing Board to the Ontario Bean Producers’ Marketing Board. While these Boards all fulfill several very important roles, one is to promote and market their products directly to the public, either dependant or more often, independent of the grocery retailers own marketing campaigns.
Many of these marketing boards spend millions annually to brand themselves and convince the public that their products and their impact is important to the province and to the marketplace.
According to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture’s Food and Rural Affairs website:
“Marketing boards also play an important role in research and promotion. The high cost of these activities can be more easily covered by a small contribution from each producer through the fees they pay to the board to cover its operating and program costs. The amount each producer contributes is based on the amount or value of their production. Investment in research and promotion helps every producer and their food industry partners.”
Unlike other agriculture producers, currently there is no method by which Ontario harness racing is able to pool the resources of its producers and participants to fund and assign resources for the future of the sport. The Racing Development and Sustainability Plan will, for the first time, establish a model that is funded and carried out to benefit all of Ontario harness racing.
But what is the plan? I mean… what are you going to do with the money?
There have been many questions about the use of the 5% purse levy and Standardbred Canada CEO John Gallinger explains that it would be premature to determine the exact use of funding before putting the right people and resources in place to manage the plan.
“The Racing Development and Sustainability Plan will be a comprehensive program that will approach the development and sustainability of Ontario harness racing as its sole business,” he says. “Under the guidance of a transparent and representative Steering Committee, priorities will be established and projects will be determined based on solid business principles.
“What we know is that there is no single solution that will solve the challenges of our industry. As such, projects will need to revolve around product and wagering development, fan experience, brand creation and awareness, and the marketing of harness racing to a new generation of customers,” continues Gallinger.
“The entire plan is based on building a structure that allows ideas to turn into actions and we are asking members to support that structure.
“We are listening to every comment we receive and want everyone to understand that we are working on behalf of our members to build a better industry.”
Throughout the fall, Standardbred Canada will be scheduling a number of additional meetings and town hall sessions across the province to hear from everyone. Those meeting dates will be announced online at standardbredcanada.ca.
“We encourage our SC Ontario members to take part in the town hall style meetings so that we can have an open and constructive dialogue with our membership. We are committed to living up to Standardbred Canada’s mandate to promote and protect harness racing in this country.
“Please take the time to sign the online petition and to send us your questions and concerns. We are more than happy to address them. We are asking for the support of Ontario’s horsepeople because we need their help to initiate meaningful and long-lasting change.”