ON-COURSE bookies have been the forgotten species amongst those desperate to get back racing.
Most have been left with no income since mid-March when racing was suspended.
And even now, nearly six months on, most are still in the dark as to when they might be able to get back up and running.
Adam Crowne, 63 and a bookie for ten years, has been gardening and working in a local charity shop just to make ends meet.
A couple of trials have seen one or two big names in the ring make appearances on course, but footfall and therefore income has been near zero.
Crowne said: “At the moment I don’t have a business and neither do the other bookmakers.
“We invest a lot of time and effort into it and employ various people, and we need the crowds. Most of us aren’t qualified to do anything else.
“My income has gone down to practically zero, I’ve been working a couple of days a week for a local charity and then to keep myself fit and bring in a bit of money I’ve been doing some gardening.
“The last time I worked on course was March 14 at Kempton. Most of my business is in the summer and I really don’t do too much in the winter and we’ve lost it all.”
A small number of bookmakers have been given access to select meetings on a trial basis.
But with only owners allowed back on course footfall and cash flow has been minimal.
Crown added: “The racecourses have to do these trials to see if they can manage.
“But the bookmakers who I have spoken to have said they’ve been pathetic, they’ve served very few people.
“There seems no reason why we shouldn’t have some form of crowd. We’re out in the open air, the risk of transmission is very small.
The ring has changed markedly from the ‘golden years’ in recent times and some bookies may be thinking if their time is up.
But Crowne hopes to be around for longer yet.
He said: “I think and hope the vast majority of us will be back.
“We need a timescale of when we might be back and we need to know what limits might be placed on crowds.
“I don’t even know if I’ll be able to get on track when we return as there’ll only be a certain number.
“I’ve been a bookie for ten years, and I’d love to say I will be for another ten years, but we don’t know what this COVID is going to bring.”
