Jackpot?
When word of Luckity and Derby Jackpot first surfaced, I must admit that I vomited in my mouth a little. Seeing quotes about the approach of divorcing what we know and love as handicapping from wagering on a grand scale as being “a panacea” or “a savior” to racing initially annoyed the hell out of me.
As someone who has invested a fair amount of my personal time (and money) to help people learn about and engage with horse racing, I found it completely objectionable that there appears to be zero interest in converting gaming zombies into players who engage with the puzzle solving qualities of horse racing.
From the newly out-of-beta Derby Jackpot:
But do they need to learn to how handicap? Despite my abhorrence with all things aimed at the lowest common denominator, I can’t find an argument against getting more money directly in the pools, especially without the strings of slots/VLTs.
Am I wrong? Could be. It will be interesting to see what kind of money these sites will generate and what kind of longevity they’ll have. I trust someone who likes to track down these sorts of things will do so when the time is right.
Update: And conversation with @o_crunk promptly ensued…