If you have always believed that the punter is the heart and soul of the racing industry, and yet always felt that you, as punters, have never been paid your dues by the people who conduct your favourite sport, you may have to revise that opinion after reading this report. For the first time in the history of Indian racing, the RWITC has come up with a commendable way of rewarding its patrons at the racecourse, giving them a realistic opportunity to win—hold your breath—a MILLION rupees as a prize to the champion punter amongst you. "You don't have to be a slumdog to be a millionaire", is the new slogan of the Royal Western India Turf Club. Making a sensational pitch of offering Rs one million in cold cash to the "champion punter", the race club has clearly broken new ground in the annals of Indian racing history. Soaking in the Millionaire air that has spread across the country, the RWITC is launching a contest starting today called the – “Racecourse Millionaire”. Mr Vivek Jain, Chairman Stewards of the Club and Marketing head said, “This is a unique contest aimed at giving something back to our racing patrons. I call it unique because you need not be a racing expert to crack this contest and win a Million rupees. The contest is simple and easy to understand, and practically anyone can enter the contest and win it too. It is the Club’s way of expressing and acknowledging the efforts of the common man in patronizing our racecourse”. The contest is designed in such a way that it will test the skill of every racegoer in predicting winners, and reward the most skilful and most consistent among them with a cool million rupees! All the racegoer needs to do is invest only Rs 500 on the tote, get a form with a unique PRN, fill his choices for the day's jackpot races (like what you do when buying a single jackpot ticket), and collect points equivalent to the win & place dividends declared for his choices. A specially designed software will publish the day's rankings within minutes after the last race so that punters can check their standings before loading their next day's choices into the same PRN account. The special software has been designed by Bharat Shah of Equine India. "The concept is simple to look at, but the simplicity is deceptive from the programming point of view," Shah told Indiarace, "all databases--from punters' names, addresses & PIN to race cards, results and dividends--had to be integrated with one another, and time constraint was such that we had to work with lightning speed. I put my best team on the job, and I am happy the beta testing was successful." Another—and more important—point Shah made was that since transparency is core issue in such contests, it is important to be able to announce accurate results immediately, "The software is tested to do precisely that," he added. "It's an innovative concept," wrapped up Vivek Jain, "I am sure it will encourage daily interest in our racing." FOUR simple steps to enter and win the contest: Register at the contest desk and obtain your Personal Registration Number PRN). Against a Rs 500/- tote investment on any pool, you get the entry form which you need to fill in on the lines of a Jackpot single ticket i.e five races of the selected jackpot pool. A single entry per PRN is the rule for the contest giving every entrant an equal chance, while eliminating the money power/multiple entry. If you wish to obtain multiple entries, then you have to get multiple PRNs. No two PRNs’ points can be combined. Each PRN is a separate entity. The points are earned if the nominated horses earn a tote dividend in the WIN and PLACE pools only. You score your points equivalent to the amount declared on the tote. Note: The contest starts today and runs through the Mumbai season till the 2nd of May 2009. The one who aggregates the maximum points will be awarded one Million Rupees and felicitated with a special trophy and the title of a Champion Racegoer.