He was probably one of the greatest innovators, if not the greatest, of the Italian horse racing bet: first with the Totosì brand, then with that of Betflag. Today Giuseppe Tarricone, little more than sixty years old from Muro Lucano, is the patron of Mst, acronym of Media System Technology – a leading company in the supply of technological solutions connected to the world of horse racing, which boasts among its clients some of the major betting concessionaires operating in our territory, and is once again in the forefront, today more than ever, in the attempt to relaunch horse racing betting. A renewed enthusiasm especially after the announcement of the downward change in the levy on fixed odds betting
‘I am a big horse fan and I felt that betting on horse racing was the victim of great injustice and inequality. You see. It’s like in a family where there are two children, they both go to their parents to ask for money to go for a pizza and one is given 100 euros, while the other is only given 3 euros. This clearly represents blatant injustice and inequality. This was the case until last 31 December between sports betting and horse racing betting.”
Tell the truth you almost didn’t believe it anymore….
“It’s true, too many times you were close to achieving this goal, but then for one reason or another everything would fade away. At one point I was about to stop investing because maybe it was no longer worth it…”
And then?
And then I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. I won’t hide the fact that I almost didn’t believe it anymore. So when the measure was enacted, I was perhaps among the first to congratulate the institutions and recognise the great work that had been done, even at the political level.
And now?
Now I won’t hide from you that we feel a great responsibility because there is no doubt that the relaunch of horse racing betting will also depend on the initiatives and investments that all of us service providers, together with the concessionaires, will be able to put in the field. Something in which I firmly believe. I am certain that this will happen, logically in the medium term. I am confident and convinced!
The first step being demanded by fans is the lowering of the betting percentage….
“Well, it will undoubtedly be the first signal and also the easiest to implement. In fact we have already started a few days ago and when fully operational we believe we will arrive at a very competitive average board for all types of bets on horse racing, but it would be wrong to reduce everything to this element, even if it is decisive. Our company has decided to invest heavily by drawing resources from what will come from the decrease in taxation on fixed odds, and so, for example, by next February we will debut the tracking system on trotting and gallop racing on the foreign model (American, English, French and Swedish). We have developed it in collaboration with the Agnano racecourse, which will be the forerunner, but our intention is to transfer it to 10/12 of the major Italian racecourses. We want to propose a whole series of new bets, and we are already quite ready, because it is not fair that on a football match there are dozens and dozens of betting opportunities and on horse racing instead there are not a dozen. The betting ‘shop’ for horse racing must have a shelf full of products, and then the customer can choose, but if you don’t give him this opportunity he will fall out of love and turn his attention to a better stocked shelf…
Then we plan to devote resources to communication because ours is a sector that communicates little and promotes itself less, almost as if it were subject to unspoken ‘censorship’. We hope to be able to announce some good initiatives soon, we have many projects on the table. We will also return to support some companies in the organisation of the big prizes. In short, we won’t be sitting on our hands…’
How would you define your mood today in relation to your work?
Easy: Enthusiastic!
