Bettors up in arms over scrapping of Daily Double

Sure, illegal bookies, which used to make a killing each racing day, took a severe dip in their take Tuesday night on the first day the new betting scheme in horseracing was implemented.

But while the Philippine Racing Commission (Philracom) was raving over its decision to scrap the ever-popular Daily Double and Extra Double betting schemes, most racing fans, otherwise known as the Bayang Karerista, were up in arms against the new system.

"It’s a bad move," said one avid racegoer. "It’s bad for us followers of daily double events."

"It might kill the industry in the long run," said another horseracing aficionado, suggesting that most racing fans were turned off by the phasing out of the DD betting, which for decades has been the centerpiece betting event each racing day.

Others also brushed aside Philracom’s claim that followers of DDs and EDs would eventually patronize the other betting systems such as the winner’s place, forecast (exacta), trifecta, quartet, pentafecta, super six, WTA (winner-take-all), Pick Six and Pick Five.

"It doesn’t follow that bettors of DDs would promptly place their bet on the forecast, trifecta or quartet. It would take a lot of persuasion for them to make the big switch since daily doubles give a different kind of thrill and excitement," said a retired racing fan.

In phasing out the DD and ED betting systems, the Philracom said the step was a two-pronged move to curve out the proliferation of illegal bookies and for the country to keep up with the international standard of racing.

The Philracom said bookies had long been thriving on DD, a system of betting which is not being patronized in horseracing in Europe, United States and other Asian cities.

In fact, a Philracom official yesterday said that an increase in total gross sales was noted on the night the new betting scheme was put into place.

Eddie Jose, Philracom executive director and commissioner, said in an interview that the scheduled nine races at the San Lazaro Leisure Park in Carmona, Cavite generated a total of P23 million in gross sales Tuesday night.

He said it easily exceeded the regular sales of P20-P21 million the Manila Jockey Club usually make on its Tuesday night races.

Jose added that the increase in revenues should allay earlier fears that sales would be greatly affected following the scrapping of the DD and ED betting schemes.

"This is a concrete proof that the Bayang Karerista continue to patronize the horseracing industry notwithstanding the bold steps the Philracom had taken," Jose said during an interview in the afternoon radio program "Racing Talk on Radio"aired over Sports Radio 918.