At a time, attendance at race courses are falling and owners of race horses at all premier racing centres are cutting down on the stocks and more importantly the betting at the tote counters has hit rock bottom, the Bangalore Turf Club (BTC) has boldly introduced Fixed Odds Betting  (FOB). It is learnt that a smart entrepreneur, Harish Narahari has struck a deal with the club to operate FOB from the six counters at the premises of the club and Harish is positive that this new betting option will slowly, yet surely will prove to be a hit. FOB was first introduced in Mumbai and Pune, but failed to generate interest among the bettors largely due to the fact that the 28 percent GST on dividends made it less attractive than the odds offered and returns paid on the investments made with the bookies in the ring. 

Harish, however has different plans and he firmly believes that a change in approach will bring home the desired result. " You need to take a few risks and challenge the bookmakers operating in the ring. That effectively means you need to offer  much higher odds on the fancied runners in a race which offers a payment higher than the advertised odds in the ring," said Harish adding that this needs to be consistently done even if it means losing out initially. "The idea is to get the punters to place bets at your counters and to do that you need to make sure that the payout on FOB is higher than what the bookies offer," said Harish. 

When pointed out that FOB failed in Pune and Mumbai and is struggling to break even after it was introduced in Mysuru a couple of years ago, Harish shot back: "Bangalore is the right place. The attendance at Bangalore for a race meeting is the highest compared to other premier racing centres and cash transactions at Bangalore is far higher than Mumbai and Hyderabad. You need cash punters and Bangalore has it in good numbers and that's one big reason I think FOB will click at this centre," said Harish. 

Now that the Gaming Bill 2025, imposing a blanket ban on all real-money games, making no distinction and clubbing horse racing, a game of skill with pure games of chance, the sport of kings in oxygen tent and only surviving thanks to revenue generated from on-line betting will quickly die if the proposal to hike GST from 28 percent to 40 percent comes into play.

"Well that's the real worry. Hopefully the mandarins of all the premier clubs, who have been fighting all along to get racing out of the highest GST slab will now apply higher thrust and force and impress on the government not to club the game of skill with poker, lotteries and the many card games, " said Harish ready to give it his best shot in his effort to make FOB a success at BTC.  
Well will FOB survive in the present scenario. Well your guess is as good as mine.