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Horse Racing from your Living Room Trackpower.com TPWR Subject: Trackpower.Com TPWR Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2000 m> Leroy this is a major story about horseracing from the privacy of your home. Globe & Mail TPWR Article globeandmail.com Canadian company betting on success TrackPower signals intent to become major player on North American racing scene BEVERLEY SMITH Sports Reporter Wednesday, February 2, 2000 GLOBE & MAIL Toronto -- In the burgeoning world of in-home horse racing and wagering networks, a little-known company in Pickering, Ont., is set to become a major player on the North American scene. The Canadian company, TrackPower.com, came to life last April, but it will kick into high gear in the next 60 days with new production equipment that will allow it to show eight racetracks simultaneously, rather than two. Although the service was founded and run by Canadians, it's not available in Canada thanks to the power of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. TrackPower distributes its satellite horse-racing signals to U.S. customers through DISH Network. TrackPower is one of three in-home racing networks in North America, with the Los Angeles-based TVG the largest and The Racing Network the other. The Ontario Jockey Club is a partner in The Racing Network. Standardbred horse owner and breeder John Simmonds, president of Simmonds Capital Ltd., got the idea to start a horse-racing channel on television three years ago when he realized he didn't have the time to go to the track to watch his horses race. Simmonds owns more than 50 standardbreds, including Breeders' Crown winner Wesgate Crown, a world record-holding trotter now standing at stud in Ontario. Simmonds originally worked with the OJC plan, but "quickly learned we needed to focus on the United States, mainly because the CRTC are very difficult in terms of broadcast to deal with," said Graham Simmonds, vice-president and general manager of TrackPower, and son of the company's founder. TrackPower doesn't need a licence to operate in the United States, but the CRTC requires anyone who broadcasts in Canada to seek a licence, which is awarded only after business plans are submitted, along with a clear message that it will be carried on a cable or satellite channel. "We just did not want to venture into that, especially when most of the business is in the United States anyway," Graham Simmonds said. "Canada probably does less than 10 per cent of the wagering that they do in the United States." TrackPower is a public company and, like many start-up companies, its spending at the moment wildly exceeds its revenue. To distribute its signals, TrackPower forged a liaison with the DISH Network. And to be able to offer wagering, TrackPower joined with Penn National Racecourse, a company based in Pennsylvania, which operates three racetracks and has a licence to accept wagers. TrackPower offers the video signals on the DISH Network free to customers, but gets a commission on every dollar bet through Penn National. The free service began Jan. 10. Since TrackPower was launched, it has signed up more than 2,500 customers. Simmonds feels the demand for the service could be significant because there are about 500,000 phone-wagering accounts in the United States. "We know that there are a lot of people out there who want to bet from home," he said. But TrackPower wants to go one additional step. It's getting ready to launch its own interactive television betting service, which will allow a customer to wager on races by using the television remote control. It soon will also start an interactive personal-computer service that will allow clients to use TrackPower's private network to place wagers with Penn National. This service will be available later this month. "That will be a big development for the company," Simmonds said. "We've been working on it for over a year. We're going to begin marketing it in about 45 days." Internet wagering is still illegal in both Canada and the United States. However, the United States allows wagering on horse racing over a private network that "must be a closed loop, subscriber-based system," Simmonds said. "If it's a closed loop, it's not considered Internet. It's more Intranet." However, Canada allows wagering only through a telephone. It's illegal in this country to wager on a computer. That legal wrinkle also dissuaded TrackPower from doing business in Canada. "The key with any sort of sport that involves wagering is to get access to the customer," Simmonds said. "We've looked at it all along as giving access through the TV and the PC, not just through one or the other. Many of our competitors have locked into certain paths. We want our customers to be able to bet no matter where they are." TVG, the network allied with a horse-racing marketing arm, has sewn up exclusive rights to broadcast signals from major tracks in New York, Kentucky and Florida. TrackPower has signed non-exclusive rights with more than 30 thoroughbred and standardbred tracks in the United States, some of them major ones, such as The Meadowlands and Santa Anita Park. Now subscribers can even watch races from Australia on TrackPower. While TVG's function is to attract new interest in the sport, TrackPower's purpose is more pragmatic. "Our focus is not on bringing new people into the sport," Simmonds said. "Ours is that this market could be grown, just with the people that are in it right now." TVG can accept wagers only from Oregon, Kentucky and Maryland. Although this network shows New York racing, New Yorkers can't wager on it. It will be tough for TVG to make money with that plan, Simmonds said. TrackPower can accept wagers from TVG tracks, but cannot show races from them. Currently TrackPower offers about 60 to 70 races a day. In a few weeks, subscribers may watch 150 to 200 races a day. TrackPower has offices in Pickering and New York. The video control centre is in Pickering. |
