India: horseracing to go online

During the last week of July, the Hyderabad Race Club (HRC) will stream India’s off-season horseracing online.

India.- Horseracing will finally go online in India after a year and a half with no spectators at races.

The announcement was made by the Hyderabad Race Club. The monsoon races will be streamed starting in the last week of July.

Some sectors are unhappy with the decision, arguing that horseracing is no fun without spectators.

According to New Indian Express, Avinash Jain, an Indian jockey, said: “Initially I felt it would be nice with less crowd considering the pandemic. But over time, I realised that the magic is missing. I don’t feel like racing when there is no yelling from the spectators. 

“Before the pandemic, the stadium would be full of spectators, but now it’s just us racers and the sounds of galloping horses.” 

As for betting on horseracing, Racecourse Media Group and Sports Information Services have launched a daily betting service that would open mutual betting on British and Irish racing in local pools via the Hyderabad Race Club’s digital platforms. 

Last November, the Mysore Race Course (MRC) in Karnataka state launched an online platform for betting on horseracing.

Clubs in Mysore (Mysuru), Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata have obtained permission for online betting, but MRC was the first to implement a platform.

Other states in the country have issued bans against online betting after a series of suicides related to gambling problems.