Betting House Prepares For The Biggest Horse Race
Grants Betting Limited is expecting huge turnout to witness the big race, the 2020 Melbourne Cup.
Tuesday 03 November 2020 | 07:55
Grants Betting Limited staff; Ulamila Ditagi, Ana Racumu, Lisi Druatabua, Sheemal Dean and Ateca Baledruma at the Suva outlet on November 2, 2020. Photo: Lusiana Tuimaisala
The race that stops the nation is today, and the usual growing interest in horse betting locally has been gradually picking up.
Grants Betting Limited is expecting huge turnout to witness the big race, the 2020 Melbourne Cup.
The Melbourne Cup is the yearly horse racing event which brings together top horse racers across Australia and internationally to race across 3200 metres for the grand prize money of $8 million.
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In Fiji, Grants Betting Limited manager operations, Artika Singh, said punters were slowly showing up at their outlets to place their bets.
“Currently, people are just coming for the normal races not for the Melbourne Cup, but we have been receiving calls from the public on how to place bets, that means people are interested,” Mrs Singh said.
“ We have been advertising about the location of our outlets in the media, so that people know where to go to. This is to make sure that they don’t flock into one outlet and become crowded.
“We must all remember that COVID-19 restrictions are still in place.”
On Saturday afternoon, excitement slowly built up at Grants Betting Limited outlet along Parekh Arcade in Suva, as punters placed bets for their favourite horses.
Mrs Singh said at the moment punters were following their favourite horses.
“We had the major race on Saturday afternoon, the Victoria Derby Day, which is the big race where out of 34 horses running, only the best 24 will qualify for the 3200 metres race for Melbourne cup.
“Regular punters choose their favourite horse, and we have a thing called sportsman, so most of the people use the sportsman to cover the horse.
“Like last year we had vow and declare on the sportsman cover and that was the horse that had won last year’s Melbourne Cup. So mostly people just follow the sportsman and their favourites to bet.”
According to Mrs Singh horse betting has become a common source of income for some regular punters.
“People are going for easy money through horse betting, because some people actually rely on betting for a source of income as it’s all about luck.
“Some people come with $3 in their pocket, and leave at the end of the day with $30 to $40, which is their daily income,” she said.
All Grants Betting Limited outlets operates from 9am to 4pm.
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