Gauteng Pick 6 players who fancy that they are subsidising other province’s pools via carryovers are betting under false illusions.
This emerged after Saftote responded to a letter to the Sporting Post Mailbag from a well-known Gauteng owner and punter.
The frustrated player writes that once he had spent his money on his local racing, he was not getting a chance to win it back as it was ‘being used in other centres’.
The reader explains that he is an owner of 30 horses in Gauteng and would like to know how a Gauteng Pick 6 that is carried over, can be ‘manouvered’ to other centres, ‘when we in Gauteng have spent the money and cannot get a chance to win it back’.
Tuffontein – Gauteng home base
We are asking that a Pick 6 in Durban that is carried over must remain in KZN as those people are spending money on Durban horses. They are race horse owners from Durban and would like to win their money back.
The same applies to other provinces.
But the racing industry has forced us to play in centres we don’t play in because of their carryover policy.
As a Gauteng owner that does not like what is happening today in the racing game, I have heard so many complaints about the carryovers that have been moved to other centres. We are asking the Racing Association – or whoever is in charge – to stop taking our Gauteng money and using it elsewhere.
I spend R7000 to R8000 per meeting, which monies I will stop playing if this current carryover policy continues. Why should our Gauteng tote carry other totes?
That’s not quite correct though!
Saftote General Manager of Sports Betting Mervin Gamble says that if one looks at the carryovers generated from a Gauteng centre going to other centres as a loss for the Gauteng centre, then one should consider carryovers generated from other centres as a gain to Gauteng.
“I did a quick calculation on the tracking of carryovers on the Pick 6 for the season to date. Since 1 August, Gauteng centres have actually benefited more from carryovers than the other centres,” says Gamble.
Vee Moodley – curent system is best for racing
Phumelela Sports Betting Executive, Vee Moodley, says that the customer is referring to Pick 6 Policy that was applicable when there were separate provincial tote systems.
“It was the correct application at that time. There was a good commercial foundation for a national tote, or Saftote as it is known today, to be introduced. All monies now go into one pool. The current carryover policy that is applicable today has been in effect for many years.
Moodley added that since the dropping of the couplings, and with the current carryover policy in place, the Pick 6 was the only pool that has grown from a turnover perspective over the last 5 years.
“Every customer is ‘king’ for us, but the masses of our customer base that punt on racing seven days a week – at an average bet of R36 – have found favour in our existing policy. We create many percentage, or fractional, winners on a daily basis. I do not, and will not, discriminate against geographical spend and the particular province in which the carryovers originated.”
He went on to remind the betting public that the Pick 6 pool reached record levels at the Vodacom Durban July,Sun Met and Sansui Summer Cup meetings due , in part, to the current policy being applied.
“When policies and decisions of this nature are contemplated and applied, plenty of intellectual application takes place and there is continuous monitoring to measure its success, or failure, for that matter. I am a member of a National Fixtures committee panel. The Racing fixtures that are programmed on a yearly basis are set out to maximize turnovers for the entire SA racing industry. On that note, we will continue with that principle with most of our policies. It makes commercial good sense and that is a win-win for racing nationally,” said Moodley in closing.
